RegEx to get executable path from path which contains path and arguments

Question

Hi

Trying to use RegEx (in VB.NET app) to parse a Win32_Service PathName to just get the path without any arguments

The below works well in most cases:

 Dim ExecutablePath = Regex.Replace(PathName, "^""([^""])"".$", "$1")

e.g. for

"C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AVGSvc.exe" /runassvc

but doesn't work if first part isn't in quotes e.g.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\SearchIndexer.exe /Embedding

Can someone please help me improve the RegEx so it works for both? and would return

"C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AVGSvc.exe" for first example

and

C:\WINDOWS\system32\SearchIndexer.exe for second example

Thank you

Answer 1

Check an example:

Dim PathName = """C:\Program Files\AVG\Antivirus\AVGSvc.exe"" /runassvc"
'Dim PathName = "C:\WINDOWS\system32\SearchIndexer.exe /Embedding"

Dim ExecutablePath = Regex.Match(PathName, "^(""(?<path>[^""]+)""|(?<path>\S+))").Groups("path").Value

Console.WriteLine(ExecutablePath)