Parse JSON string using node.js

Question

I'm looking for some regex help on the following:

{ Start: '2019-10-21T15:00:00Z', End: '2019-10-21T15:30:00Z' }

I need to be able to just pull the start value from what is above. Ex: 2019年10月21日T15:00:00Z

My regex is terrible and I don't even really have any semi-functional code to share.

Any help would be appreciated.

• Tim Biegeleisen: You need a JSON parser, not regex.
• javapatriot: Thanks @TimBiegeleisen, you are absolutely right.

Answer 1

You didn't specify what tool you are using. Regex works slightly differently in Python, Perl, JavaScript, grep, etc.

For Perl, you need: Start: .\K[0-9TZ:-]+

To test this on the command-line:

echo "{ Start: '2019-10-21T15:00:00Z', End: '2019-10-21T15:30:00Z' }" |grep -Po 'Start: .\K[0-9TZ:-]+'

• Tim Biegeleisen: It would be better to use a JSON parser here.
• bitinerant: @TimBiegeleisen - I don't think we have enough information to make that determination. As part of a larger or import project - yes, I agree. As a one-off or proof-of-concept, a JSON parser may be overkill. Also, it was pointed out elsewhere that this is not proper JSON.
• Tim Biegeleisen: Fair enough +1, I commented before that information was known. In any case, many JSON parsers can tolerate non ideal JSON to some extent.

Answer 2

Couple of things

this is not valid JSON.

{ Start: '2019-10-21T15:00:00Z', End: '2019-10-21T15:30:00Z' }

This is valid JSON.

'{ "Start": "2019-10-21T15:00:00Z", "End": "2019-10-21T15:30:00Z" }'

You can parse this using JSON.parse(), which will parse your string into a javascript object.

var jsonString = '{ "Start": "2019-10-21T15:00:00Z", "End": "2019-10-21T15:30:00Z" }';
var parsedJson = JSON.parse(jsonString);
console.log(parsedJson.Start);
console.log(parsedJson.End);

• javapatriot: thanks Malcor, I agree what i provided is not valid, but that is what is being returned when i console.log it. So somehow i need to be able to parse what is being passed. { Start: '2019年10月22日T15:00:00Z', End: '2019年10月22日T15:30:00Z' }
• Malcor: If that's the output of console.log then it's already parsed. That's a typical javascript object. You should be able to access the Start and End properties.