Extract Text Between
This tool finds every span of text between a start marker and an end marker and returns them as a list. The markers are plain text — an HTML tag, a bracket, a quote, a log prefix — rather than a regular expression, so it is useful without knowing regex syntax.
Text
Matches
Your result will appear here.
Not sure where to start? Use Load example.
Results update automatically and are calculated on your device. Nothing you type is sent to a server.
Runs in your browser. Processing happens entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to Delimiter.live.
How to use the Extract Text Between
- Paste the text you want to search.
- Enter the marker that comes before each value, and the one that comes after.
- Read the list of matches, then copy or download it.
- Turn on unique results if the same value appears many times.
Example
Input
<li>one</li><li>two</li>
Output
one two
Common use cases
- Pulling every list item or link text out of a block of HTML.
- Extracting the values inside quotes or brackets from a log line.
- Getting the contents of a repeated tag without writing a regular expression.
- Isolating IDs that always sit between the same two strings.
Limitations and things to watch for
- Matches cannot overlap. Scanning resumes after each closing marker, so nested markers of the same kind return the outermost span rather than every level.
- Markers are plain text, not patterns. If the text before each value varies, use the regex tester instead.
- A start marker with no matching end marker after it ends the search rather than being reported as an error, because a trailing unmatched marker is normal in truncated logs.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a regular expression as a marker?
No, and that is deliberate — markers are matched literally. It means you can paste an HTML tag or a bracket without escaping anything. When the surrounding text varies, the regex tester is the right tool.
What happens with nested markers?
Matches never overlap, so scanning continues after each closing marker. With nested markers of the same kind you get the outer span; a genuinely nested structure needs a parser rather than markers.
Why did I get no results?
Usually the markers do not appear exactly as typed — a different quote character, a space inside a tag, or an end marker that never occurs after the start. Case is ignored by default, so that is rarely the cause.
Is my text uploaded?
No. The scan runs in your browser, which matters because the text people search this way is often a log or a scraped page containing personal data.