java - Regex to remove everything between two strings but with repetitions -

example string: before text, <ref>{{blahblahblahblah}}</ref> after text, <ref>{{reference2}}</ref> end of paragraph.

i'm looking remove mention of <ref> , </ref> , in between.

the result want above example string: before text, after text, end of paragraph.

i have read regex remove between 2 strings , have tried replaceall("<ref>.*</ref>", ""), problem i'm having method in thread removing much. if use method on above text result : before text, end of paragraph. cut out text in-between sets of <ref> tags.

is there easy regex way achieve desired result? in actual text there might many (more 2) sets of <ref> </ref> tags useful text in-between.

edit: added regex tried.

if you're going off answer in referenced question you're indeed "removing much" because answer uses greedy operator, use *? non-greedy match instead ...

i propose following regular expression if must use 1 @ all:

str = str.replaceall("(?s)<ref>.*?</ref>", ""); 

note: inline (?s) mode modifier allows dot match across newline sequences.