Regular Expression Resources

FAQEditor

Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression
http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html
http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/

The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
FAQ Notes: http://www.jibbering.com/faq/faq_notes/faq_notes.html
ECMAScript Language Specification via FAQ2.6

Oct 18 '07 #1

Erwin Moller

FAQEditor wrote:

Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression
http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html
http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/

The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

Hi,

You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.
(Why the hell did I buy it?)

If you search in google 'mastering regular expressions' it end up as the
first, but the url is hopeless long.

I learned all my regex skill from that book.
It has a lot of tests in it to keep you sharp.
I really recommend it.
Regards,
Erwin Moller

Oct 18 '07 #2

Erwin Moller

Erwin Moller wrote:

FAQEditor wrote:

>Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression
http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html
http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/

The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

Hi,

You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.
(Why the hell did I buy it?)

If you search in google 'mastering regular expressions' it end up as the
first, but the url is hopeless long.

I learned all my regex skill from that book.
It has a lot of tests in it to keep you sharp.
I really recommend it.
Regards,
Erwin Moller

Correction: I was wrong. The books are NOT completely online.
Google implemented some 'viewing limit'.
You can tell I found books.google just now. ;-)

Sorry for the misinformation.

Regards,
Erwin Moller

Oct 18 '07 #3

Evertjan.

Erwin Moller wrote on 18 okt 2007 in comp.lang.javascript:

You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.

No only partly online,
the 2002 more complete than the 2006 edition, meseems.

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

Oct 18 '07 #4

FAQEditor

Erwin Moller said the following on 10/18/2007 5:30 AM:

Erwin Moller wrote:

>FAQEditor wrote:

>>Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression
http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html
http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/

The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

Hi,

You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.
(Why the hell did I buy it?)

If you search in google 'mastering regular expressions' it end up as
the first, but the url is hopeless long.

I learned all my regex skill from that book.
It has a lot of tests in it to keep you sharp.
I really recommend it.
Regards,
Erwin Moller

Correction: I was wrong. The books are NOT completely online.
Google implemented some 'viewing limit'.
You can tell I found books.google just now. ;-)

Sorry for the misinformation.

No problem. Right now I am trying to come up with a Regular Expression
entry for the FAQ and hunting quotes, snippets, URLs, etc.. for the
entry. I will give the book a look later when I have time.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
FAQ Notes: http://www.jibbering.com/faq/faq_notes/faq_notes.html
ECMAScript Language Specification via FAQ2.6

Oct 18 '07 #5

FAQEditor

Evertjan. said the following on 10/18/2007 5:42 AM:

Erwin Moller wrote on 18 okt 2007 in comp.lang.javascript:

>You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.

No only partly online,
the 2002 more complete than the 2006 edition, meseems.

Do you know of any other online resources that are pretty good for JS
Regular Expressions? Not so much a "This is an example" type sites but
more of a "This is how they work" type sites.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
FAQ Notes: http://www.jibbering.com/faq/faq_notes/faq_notes.html
ECMAScript Language Specification via FAQ2.6

Oct 18 '07 #6

Evertjan.

FAQEditor wrote on 18 okt 2007 in comp.lang.javascript:

Evertjan. said the following on 10/18/2007 5:42 AM:

>Erwin Moller wrote on 18 okt 2007 in comp.lang.javascript:

>>You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular
expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.

No only partly online,
the 2002 more complete than the 2006 edition, meseems.

Do you know of any other online resources that are pretty good for JS
Regular Expressions? Not so much a "This is an example" type sites but
more of a "This is how they work" type sites.

I learned regex around 2003 mainly on this NG
and on microsoft.public.scripting.jscript
with only the syntax page of script56.chm as the regular specs guide.

My knowledge of those resources by consequence is limited.

My use of RegEx in AWK and alike in the '80s never amounted to much.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWK_(programming_language)>

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

Oct 18 '07 #7

pr

FAQEditor wrote:

Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm

That's an old Netscape JavaScript 1.2 reference: pre-dates numerous
modern conveniences like non-greedy quantifiers, non-capturing
parentheses or lookaheads/behinds (none of which a beginner will
regularly use).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression

Nah. That's everything in the world about regular expressions, including
much that will confuse a JavaScript user, like "POSIX extended regular
expressions".

http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html

Incomplete. Aimed at programmers in other languages.
http://www.regular-expressions.info/...ptexample.html is a good
idea, but doesn't work very well. It wouldn't take much effort to come
up with a better expression tester for the FAQ if you're interested.

http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/

A bit antique, but a nice tutorial.

>
The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

What about

http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs...ar_Expressions

? Also on the "horse's mouth" principle, there are the perl man pages
(eg http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html), but there are enough
differences from JavaScript to confuse a reader who wasn't forewarned.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

I like this, from the Netscape JavaScript 1.3 Guide:

| Regular expressions are patterns used to match character combinations
| in strings.

Too short?

Oct 18 '07 #8

Dr J R Stockton

In comp.lang.javascript message <v7*********************@giganews.com>,
Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:57:28, FAQEditor <cl****@comcast.netposted:

>Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

Yes, at <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/js-valid.htm#RL>.

>http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm OK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression OK, put first?
http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html OK
http://www.webreference.com/js/column5/ ad-bloated,

also elderly.

State which cover only (roughly) IE4-level, and which have non-greedy &
suchlike.

>And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

<quote>
In computing, a regular expression is a string that is used to describe
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxA ^ sort of
or match a set of strings, according to certain syntax rules.
</quote><G>
The topic is too big to be *covered* in a FAQ 4 part; it can be
introduced and illustrated. It could be covered either in a FAQ Note or
by references.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon.co.uk Delphi 3? Turnpike 6.05
<URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/TP/BP/Delphi/&c., FAQqy topics & links;
<URL:http://www.bancoems.com/CompLangPascalDelphiMisc-MiniFAQ.htmclpdmFAQ;
<URL:http://www.borland.com/newsgroups/guide.htmlnews:borland.* Guidelines

Oct 18 '07 #9

Dr J R Stockton

In comp.lang.javascript message <UC*******************@newsfe3-win.ntli.
net>, Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:32:20, pr <pr@porl.globalnet.co.ukposted:

>FAQEditor wrote:

>Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?
The four I have so far are:
http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-10/regexp.htm

That's an old Netscape JavaScript 1.2 reference: pre-dates numerous
modern conveniences like non-greedy quantifiers, non-capturing
parentheses or lookaheads/behinds (none of which a beginner will
regularly use).

Nevertheless they should be mentioned. A beginner may have a task which
calls for them, or may find them in existing code.

>http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs...Guide:Regular_
Expressions

Mandatory.

>And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

I like this, from the Netscape JavaScript 1.3 Guide:

| Regular expressions are patterns used to match character combinations

-------- a good word

>| in strings.

Too short?

Not for a first sentence.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ?@merlyn.demon.co.uk Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/- FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.

Oct 18 '07 #10

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn

Erwin Moller wrote:

Erwin Moller wrote:

>You might want to add the excelent book "mastering regular expressions".

To my suprise I found it completely online at book.google.
(Why the hell did I buy it?)
[...]

Correction: I was wrong. The books are NOT completely online.
Google implemented some 'viewing limit'.
You can tell I found books.google just now. ;-)

I found the two sample chapters sufficient that are still available
for free (and have not fallen victim to Google yet), but YMMV.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex2/
PointedEars
--
"Use any version of Microsoft Frontpage to create your site. (This won't
prevent people from viewing your source, but no one will want to steal it.)"
-- from <http://www.vortex-webdesign.com/help/hidesource.htm>

Oct 22 '07 #11

Mohammad Abou-Basha

On Oct 18, 10:57 am, FAQEditor <clj...@comcast.netwrote:

Anybody have any URL's to tutorials and/or references for Regular
Expressions?

The four I have so far are:

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6408-...om/js/column5/

The first two came from the FAQ, second two came from a Google Search
for "Javascript Regular Expression" so I am not sure how good they are.

And/or an answer to the question "What are Regular Expressions?" that
would be short enough to put into the FAQ?

This may help as well
http://www.wikicodia.com/wiki/JavaSc...lar_expression

>
--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ -http://jibbering.com/faq/index.html
FAQ Notes:http://www.jibbering.com/faq/faq_notes/faq_notes.html
ECMAScript Language Specification via FAQ2.6

Oct 22 '07 #12

Dr J R Stockton

In comp.lang.javascript message <11**********************@e9g2000prf.goo
glegroups.com>, Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:12:09, Mohammad Abou-Basha
<mi********@gmail.composted:

>
This may help as well
http://www.wikicodia.com/wiki/JavaSc...lar_expression

The discussion tab suggests otherwise. See also the history tab and the
"Recent Changes" link.

--
(c) John Stockton, Surrey, UK. ??*@merlyn.demon.co.uk Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web <URL:http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/- FAQish topics, acronyms, & links.
Check boilerplate spelling -- error is a public sign of incompetence.
Never fully trust an article from a poster who gives no full real name.

Oct 22 '07 #13