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Regular Expressions and YouAn introduction to regular expressions.James I. ArmesWeb Developer, AllPlayers.com@jamesiarmes
Email Validation Examples ^[w.%+-]+@[w.-]+.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$
Email Validation Examples(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:...
Types of Regular Expressions● Simple Regular Expressions● POSIX Basic Regular Expressions● POSIX Extended Regular Ex...
Simple Regular Expressions● Traditional regular expressions.● Not a standard.● Support by some applications for back...
POSIX Basic Regular Expressions● Created to provide a common standard for Unix tools.● Designed to be b...
POSIX Extended Regular Expressions● Adds some new metacharacters.● Metacharacters do not require escaping....
Perl Regular Expressions● Adds lazy quantification, named capture groups and recursive patterns.● Adopted by many p...
Syntax
Basic Metacharacters. Match any single character.^ Matches beginning of a string.$ Matches end of a string.| Match...
Character Classes[] Match any characters within the group.[^ ] Match any characters NOT within the group.[n-m] M...
Shorthand Character Classess Any whitespace character such as space, tab and newlines. Same as [nrt ...
Quantifiers* Match the preceding expression 0 or more times.+ Match the preceding expression 1 or more times.?...
Lazy QuantifiersStandard Quantifiers are greedy.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That w...
Lazy QuantifiersUse ? to make a quantifier lazy.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That w...
Grouping() Group the expression and capture the text.(?: ) Group the expression but DO NOT capture the text.
Backreferences1 through 9 reference previously captured text.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World"ex...
Word Boundariesb matches the position between a word character(w) and a non-word character (W).Example:Hello WorldobHello|...
Word BoundariesB matches the position between two wordcharacters (ww).Example:Hello WorldoBHello Wo|rld
Lookaheads(?= ) matches the position directly before theexpression is matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hell...
Lookbehinds(?<= ) matches the position directly after theexpression is matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hel...
Lookaheads(?! ) matches the position directly before theexpression is NOT matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "...
Lookbehinds(?<! ) matches the position directly after theexpression is NOT matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than ...
Conditionals(?(condition)then|else)● condition must be a lookahead or a lookbehind.● If condition is matched, then mus...
ConditionalsExample:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".Hello (?(?<=World)World|Earth)Hello World sounds better t...
Modifiersi Case insensitive matching.s . matches newline characters.m ^ and $ match after and before newlines (respe...
Modifiers● (?a) to turn modifiers on.●(?-a) to turn modifiers off.Examples:(?i)WORLD(?-i)(?i-s)WORLD.(?s-i)(?i:WORLD)
LanguageImplementations
JavaScript● RegExp object. – var expression = new RegExp(World, g); – var expression = /World/g;● St...
Perl● if ($string =~ /regex/)● $string =~ s/regex/replacement/● Regexp::Common – http://search.cpan.org/dis...
PHP● ereg vs. preg – preg uses Perl syntax. – ereg uses POSIX Extended syntax. – preg is much fa...
PHP● preg_match()● preg_match_all()● preg_replace()● preg_split()● preg_quote()● http://www.php.net/manual/en/...
Tools and Resources● txt2regex - http://aurelio.net/txt2regex/● Reggy (mac) - http://reggyapp.com/● Patterns (mac) -...
Thanks!http://xkcd.com/208/
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Regular Expressions and You

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Regular Expressions and You

  1. 1. Regular Expressions and YouAn introduction to regular expressions.James I. ArmesWeb Developer, AllPlayers.com@jamesiarmes
  2. 2. Email Validation Examples ^[w.%+-]+@[w.-]+.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$
  3. 3. Email Validation Examples(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)*<(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*)*:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*>(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)|(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)*:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)*<(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*)*:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*>(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:,s*(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)*<(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*)*:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|"(?:[^"r]|.|(?:(?:rn)?[ t]))*"(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*@(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*)(?:.(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:".[] 000-031]+(?:(?:(?:rn)?[ t])+|Z|(?=[["()<>@,;:".[]]))|[([^[]r]|.)*](?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*>(?:(?:rn)?[ t])*))*)?;s*)
  4. 4. Types of Regular Expressions● Simple Regular Expressions● POSIX Basic Regular Expressions● POSIX Extended Regular Expressions● Perl Regular Expressions
  5. 5. Simple Regular Expressions● Traditional regular expressions.● Not a standard.● Support by some applications for backwards compatibility.● Deprecated.
  6. 6. POSIX Basic Regular Expressions● Created to provide a common standard for Unix tools.● Designed to be backwards compatible with traditional regular expressions.● Adopted as the default syntax of many Unix tools.● Some metacharacters require escaping.
  7. 7. POSIX Extended Regular Expressions● Adds some new metacharacters.● Metacharacters do not require escaping.● Dropped support for back references (n).● Many Unix tools provide support with a command line argument (usually -E).
  8. 8. Perl Regular Expressions● Adds lazy quantification, named capture groups and recursive patterns.● Adopted by many programming languages due to its power.● Requires non-alphanumeric delimiters around expression.● Other languages only implement a subset, so implementations vary.
  9. 9. Syntax
  10. 10. Basic Metacharacters. Match any single character.^ Matches beginning of a string.$ Matches end of a string.| Matches the expression before or after (think ||).
  11. 11. Character Classes[] Match any characters within the group.[^ ] Match any characters NOT within the group.[n-m] Match a range of characters.Examples:[A-Za-z0-9][^G-Zg-z _]
  12. 12. Shorthand Character Classess Any whitespace character such as space, tab and newlines. Same as [nrt ]w Any word character. Same as [A-Za-z0-9_]d Any digit character. Same as [0-9]S, W, D Negated version of the above. Can be used inside character classes but could be confusing.
  13. 13. Quantifiers* Match the preceding expression 0 or more times.+ Match the preceding expression 1 or more times.? Match the preceding expression 0 or 1 time.{m,n} Match the preceding expression at least m times but no more than n times.{m,} Match the preceding expression at least m times with no maximum.{,n} Match the preceding expression no more than n times with no minimum.{n} Match the preceding expression exactly n times.
  14. 14. Lazy QuantifiersStandard Quantifiers are greedy.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That would be "Hallo Welt" in German."Hello .*"Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That would be "Hallo Welt" in German.
  15. 15. Lazy QuantifiersUse ? to make a quantifier lazy.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That would be "Hallo Welt" in German."Hello .*?"Many programming courses start with a "Hello World" example.That would be "Hallo Welt" in German.
  16. 16. Grouping() Group the expression and capture the text.(?: ) Group the expression but DO NOT capture the text.
  17. 17. Backreferences1 through 9 reference previously captured text.Example:Many programming courses start with a "Hello World"example. Hello World examples are extremely simple,especially when they just output "Hello World.(|")Hello World(1)Many programming courses start with a "Hello World"example. Hello World examples are extremely simple,especially when they just output "Hello World.
  18. 18. Word Boundariesb matches the position between a word character(w) and a non-word character (W).Example:Hello WorldobHello| World
  19. 19. Word BoundariesB matches the position between two wordcharacters (ww).Example:Hello WorldoBHello Wo|rld
  20. 20. Lookaheads(?= ) matches the position directly before theexpression is matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".Hello(?= World)Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".
  21. 21. Lookbehinds(?<= ) matches the position directly after theexpression is matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".(?<=")HelloHello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".
  22. 22. Lookaheads(?! ) matches the position directly before theexpression is NOT matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".Hello(?! World)Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".
  23. 23. Lookbehinds(?<! ) matches the position directly after theexpression is NOT matched.Example:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".(?<!")HelloHello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".
  24. 24. Conditionals(?(condition)then|else)● condition must be a lookahead or a lookbehind.● If condition is matched, then must match for the expression to pass.● If condition is not matched, else must match for the expression to pass.
  25. 25. ConditionalsExample:Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".Hello (?(?<=World)World|Earth)Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".Hello (?(?<=People)People|Earth)Hello World sounds better than "Hello Earth".
  26. 26. Modifiersi Case insensitive matching.s . matches newline characters.m ^ and $ match after and before newlines (respectively).x Whitespace within the expression is ignored unless escaped.g Match globally.
  27. 27. Modifiers● (?a) to turn modifiers on.●(?-a) to turn modifiers off.Examples:(?i)WORLD(?-i)(?i-s)WORLD.(?s-i)(?i:WORLD)
  28. 28. LanguageImplementations
  29. 29. JavaScript● RegExp object. – var expression = new RegExp(World, g); – var expression = /World/g;● String.match()● String.replace()● String.split()
  30. 30. Perl● if ($string =~ /regex/)● $string =~ s/regex/replacement/● Regexp::Common – http://search.cpan.org/dist/Regexp-Common/ – Provides common expressions. – Examples: ● IP Address ● Credit Card Number ● Profanity
  31. 31. PHP● ereg vs. preg – preg uses Perl syntax. – ereg uses POSIX Extended syntax. – preg is much faster. – ereg has been deprecated as of PHP 5.3.
  32. 32. PHP● preg_match()● preg_match_all()● preg_replace()● preg_split()● preg_quote()● http://www.php.net/manual/en/book.pcre.php● http://php.net/manual/reference.pcre.pattern.modifiers.php
  33. 33. Tools and Resources● txt2regex - http://aurelio.net/txt2regex/● Reggy (mac) - http://reggyapp.com/● Patterns (mac) - http://krillapps.com/patterns/● Web based - http://regex.larsolavtorvik.com/● Regular-Expressions.info (reference) - http://www.regular-expressions.info/
  34. 34. Thanks!http://xkcd.com/208/

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