Re: RegEx question

[ikegami]

If you mean "something that isn't bank" (as you said),

/
   ^
   (?: .{0,3} | (?!bank}.{4} | .{5,} )
   nova [ ] scotia
   (?: .{0,3} | (?!bank}.{4} | .{5,} )
   $
/sx

Alternative:

/
   ^
   (?: | [^b].* | b[^a].* | ba[^n].* | ban[^k].* | bank.+ )
   nova [ ] scotia
   (?: | [^b].* | b[^a].* | ba[^n].* | ban[^k].* | bank.+ )
   $
/sx

If you mean "something that doesn't contain bank",

/
   ^
   (?: (?!bank). )*
   nova [ ] scotia
   (?: (?!bank). )*
   $
/sx

[vit]

Is it possible to write it without Pattern Modifiers? In other words without /sx

[AnomalousMonk]

Sure, just squish it all together (untested)
    /^(?:(?!bank).)*nova[ ]scotia(?:(?!bank).)*$/
and remember that  . (dot) no longer "matches all." But why would you want to?

Update: Actually, you no longer need the character class (update: because without  /x a space is a literal space):
    /^(?:(?!bank).)*nova scotia(?:(?!bank).)*$/
and if you just gotta get rid of that last space:
    /^(?:(?!bank).)*nova\x20scotia(?:(?!bank).)*$/
(both still untested).

[vit]

Because I need it for both Perl and Java. Looks like this works, thank you very much !!!