Regex scenarios to Capture HTML Tags with Attributes in JavaScript - guide with Edge Cases
I'm trying to implement I'm stuck trying to I'm trying to extract HTML tags with their attributes from a string using regex in JavaScript, but I'm running into issues with nested tags and optional attributes... My current regex pattern is as follows: ```javascript const htmlString = '<div class="container" id="main"><span style="color:red">Hello</span></div>'; const regex = /<([a-zA-Z]+)(\s+[^>]*)?>.*?<\/\1>/g; const matches = htmlString.match(regex); console.log(matches); ``` While this works for simple tags, it fails for tags with attributes or nested tags. For example, it returns `null` for the above `htmlString` since it doesn't handle the attributes well and the `.*?` is greedy, causing it to miss the closing tag. I've tried various modifications, including changing the `.*?` to `[^<]*?`, but I still need to seem to get it right without running into performance optimization or missing matches. Additionally, I'm worried about the implications of using regex for parsing HTML, as I've read it can lead to unexpected behavior with more complex structures. I'm using Node.js v14.17.6, and I would appreciate any guidance on how to refine my regex pattern to correctly capture tags with attributes, especially when they are nested or contain optional whitespace. Are there any best practices for handling this scenario, or should I consider using a dedicated HTML parser instead? For reference, this is a production web app. Any ideas what could be causing this? I'm developing on CentOS with Javascript. I appreciate any insights!