How to specify the QString::indexOf method not to be sensitive to the number of spaces between two words?

Question

I have written a source code like:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    QFile File (directory + "/File");

        if(File.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text))
        {
         QTextStream Stream (&File);
         QString FileText;
           do
            {
      FileText = Stream.readLine();
    QString s = "start";
    QString e = "end   here";
    int start = FileText.indexOf(s, 0, Qt::CaseInsensitive); 
    int end = FileText.indexOf(e, Qt::CaseInsensitive); 

    if(start != -1){ // we found it

        QString y = FileText.mid(start + s.length(), (end - (start + s.length()))); 

        qDebug() << y << (start + s.length()) << (end - (start + s.length()));
    }

}

My problem here is, that the int end = FileText.indexOf(e, Qt::CaseInsensitive); with QString e = "end here"; is just found when there are exactly three spaces between the word "end" and "here". This is problematical, because in the text I read the spaces between these two words will surely differ from time to time. Furthermore I need to write both words "end" and "here". I tried to reduce the problem to the basis and hope someone has an idea/solution.

Answer 1

Reduce the number of inter-spaces to 1 using QString::simplified() method.

Answer 2

You could also try QRegExp:

#include <QDebug>
#include <QString>
#include <QRegExp>

int main()
{
    QString text("start ABCDE1234?!-: end  here foo bar");

    // create regular expression
    QRegExp rx("start\\s+(.+)\\s+end\\s+here", Qt::CaseInsensitive);

    int pos=0;

    // look for possible matches
    while ((pos=rx.indexIn(text, pos)) != -1) {
        qDebug() << rx.cap(1); // get first match in (.+)
        pos+=rx.matchedLength();
    }

    return 0;
}