match until a certain pattern using regex

Question

I have string in a text file containing some text as follows:

txt = \"java.awt.GridBagLayout.layoutContainer\"

I am looking to get everyth

Answer 1

This seems to do what you want with re.findall(): (java\S?[^A-Z]*)\.[A-Z]

Answer 2

Without using capture groups, you can use lookahead (the (?= ... ) business).

java\s?[^A-Z]*(?=\.[A-Z]) should capture everything you're after. Here it is broken down:

java            //Literal word "java"
\s?             //Match for an optional space character. (can change to \s* if there can be multiple)
[^A-Z]*         //Any number of non-capital-letter characters
(?=\.[A-Z])     //Look ahead for (but don't add to selection) a literal period and a capital letter.

Answer 3

Make your pattern match a period followed by a capital letter:

'(java\S?[^A-Z]*?)\.[A-Z]'

Everything in capture group one will be what you want.