How Can I Match Whole Words Only Using Regular Expressions in C#?

Exactly match complete words using C# regular expressions

In C#, regular expressions are often used to find specific patterns in text. However, when trying to match complete words, care needs to be taken to avoid matching partial words.

Suppose you need to find the words "shoes", "shirt" or "pants" in a text:

<code>string keywords = "(shoes|shirt|pants)";</code>

It seems easy to use the Regex.Match method:

<code>if (Regex.Match(content, keywords + "\s+", 
  RegexOptions.Singleline | RegexOptions.IgnoreCase).Success)
{
    //匹配
}</code>

However, this expression will also match words like "participants" because it treats "pants" as a partial match within a larger word. To solve this problem, we need to match complete words explicitly.

Solution: Use word boundaries

Word boundaries in regular expressions are represented by the b characters. By adding word boundaries to the regular expression, you can ensure that only exact matching words are recognized:

<code>Regex.Match(content, @"\b(shoes|shirt|pants)\b");</code>

Updated code

Here is the updated code to correctly match words based on your criteria:

<code>string keywords = "(shoes|shirt|pants)";
if (Regex.Match(content, @"\b(shoes|shirt|pants)\b").Success)
{
    //匹配
}</code>

With this modification, only the three complete words "shoes", "shirt" and "pants" will be considered as matches, ensuring the accuracy of the matching operation.

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