Headache relief for programmers: Regular expression generator

http://www.txt2re.com/index-python.php3

by edw519 • 18 years ago

21 12 18 years ago

txt2re.com

mojuba2• 18 years ago

This kind of a UI looks like a bigger headache to me...

REs are easier to write than to understand. It would be great to have a tool that visualizes existing REs, I think.

paulgb2• 18 years ago

> It would be great to have a tool that visualizes existing REs, I think.

This one is pretty cool to play around with, not sure how useful it is in practice though: http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/

mojuba2• 18 years ago

Beautiful work. Can be useful for RE compiler makers perhaps...

asnyder• 18 years ago

RegEx Buddy (http://www.regexbuddy.com) is also pretty good. It breaks down the regex into its parts in an intuitive interface. Furthermore, it allows you to easily switch between the various regex styles, along with its platform specific variation.

It's also great for deciphering expressions long forgotten, definitely a lifesaver.

huhtenberg• 18 years ago

This solves a non-existing problem. Regexps are hardly a "headache" for any reasonably good programmer.

This is also a dupe - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=149631

mwmanning• 18 years ago

Maybe I'm not a "reasonably good" programmer, but I use this tool all the time. Lots of languages have little re nuances that may be hard to remember.

newt0311• 18 years ago

Agreed. Regexs are not very difficult to write if one is a good programmer and understands what they are searching for.

xlnt• 18 years ago

how about a regex maintainer. it's no problem to write one in the first place.

jmagar• 18 years ago

You sir, hit the nail on the head! We need the exact opposite: enter a regex pattern, and a sample string... then fire up a similar GUI to tweak the expression until it's working again.

rickmb• 18 years ago

Oh come on, this so takes the fun out of hacking regexs.

tokipin• 18 years ago

what about a tool that you enter 'instances' in (say, a few examples of valid email addresses) and it gives you the most specific regex that matches all of them

Headache relief for programmers: Regular expression generator

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