Single match C# with Example
using System.Text.RegularExpressions; string pattern = ":(.*?):"; string lookup = "--:text in here:--"; // Instanciate your regex object and pass a pattern to it Regex rgxLookup = new Regex(pattern, RegexOptions.Singleline, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)); // Get the match from your regex-object Match mLookup = rgxLookup.Match(lookup); // The group-index 0 always covers the full pattern. // Matches inside parentheses will be accessed through the index 1 and above. string found = mLookup.Groups[1].Value; Result: found = "text in here"