MSI Log File REGEX, Unimportant

[Squirre1]

Ok, I can write code in many different languages but every time I look at REGEX I just stare in confusion... I have log files with the following sample lines:

MSI (c) (3C:48) [21:21:55:530]: Client-side and UI is none or basic: Running entire install on the server.
MSI (c) (3C:48) [21:21:55:530]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (c) (3C:48) [21:21:55:530]: Cloaking enabled.
MSI (c) (3C:48) [21:21:55:530]: Attempting to enable all disabled priveleges before calling Install on Server
MSI (c) (3C:48) [21:21:55:546]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown. Counter after increment: 0
MSI (s) (90:E0) [21:21:55:546]: Grabbed execution mutex.
MSI (s) (90:A4) [21:21:55:546]: Resetting cached policy values
MSI (s) (90:A4) [21:21:55:546]: Machine policy value 'Debug' is 0
MSI (s) (90:A4) [21:21:55:546]: ******* RunEngine:


I am trying to mark the first part of each of the lines as unimportant:
MSI (s) (90:A4) [21:21:55:546]:

You can see the character in the first () changes the second () does alphanumeric.

I have tried as simple as:
\w\w\w\s\W\w\W\s\W\w\w\W\w\w\W\s\W\d\d\W\d\d\W\d\d \W\d\d\d\W\W

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Squirre1

[Aaron]

Hello,

How about a basic grammar item:
^[^\]]*\]:

^ = beginning of line
[] = a set of characters
^\] = not ] (with the escape \ in front)
[^\]]* = 0 or more characters that are not ]
\]: = matches on the end of the string, where a ]: is present.

So basically, it matches the beginning of the line, a bunch of characters that are not "]" and a "]:" to end of the match.

How does this work for you?

[Squirre1]

That worked... Thanks for the help. Regex is a whole nother language to learn... ROFL.. Ugh that was so simple..

[Michael Bulgrien]

It doesn't even need to be that complicated. For example, this:

^.*]:

means start at beginning of line and capture any character, any number of them, ending in ]:
and this:

^.{30}:

means start at beginning of line and capture exactly 30 characters followed by a :