I want to extract These are words before hashtag from the below line:
* These are words before hashtag #work/abc/xyz/123
I have tried \#.*, which highlights everything after #hashtag. How can I select words before the hashtag using a single regex statement?
^[^#\r\n]*(?= #)
^ = Begin matching from the start.
[^#\r\n]+ = Match at least one character, but not hashes or new line characters.
(?= #) = Match a space and a hash, but don't capture them.
Examples here: https://regex101.com/r/PDWT39/1
You could use a capture group for the chars before the #, and match optional spaces followed by the # after it.
^([^#\r\n]+?)[^\S\r\n]*#
The pattern matches:
^ Start of string
( Capture group 1
[^#\r\n]+? Match 1+ times (non greedy) any char except # or a newline) Close group 1
[^\S\r\n]* Match optional spaces without newlines
# Match literally (Note that you don't have to escape the \#
Or with a lookahead:
^[^#\r\n]+?(?=[^\S\r\n]*#)