Mastering Regular Expressions, 3rd Edition

Table of Contents

Preface

1: Introduction to Regular Expressions

Solving Real Problems

Regular Expressions as a Language

The Filename Analogy

The Language Analogy

The Regular-Expression Frame of Mind

If You Have Some Regular-Expression Experience

Searching Text Files: Egrep

Egrep Metacharacters

Start and End of the Line

Character Classes

Matching Any Character with Dot

Alternation

Ignoring Differences in Capitalization

Word Boundaries

In a Nutshell

Optional Items

Other Quantifiers: Repetition

Parentheses and Backreferences

The Great Escape

Expanding the Foundation

Linguistic Diversification

The Goal of a Regular Expression

A Few More Examples

Regular Expression Nomenclature

Improving on the Status Quo

Summary

Personal Glimpses

2: Extended Introductory Examples

About the Examples

A Short Introduction to Perl

Matching Text with Regular Expressions

Toward a More Real-World Example

Side Effects of a Successful Match

Intertwined Regular Expressions

Intermission

Modifying Text with Regular Expressions

Example: Form Letter

Example: Prettifying a Stock Price

Automated Editing

A Small Mail Utility

Adding Commas to a Number with Lookaround

Text-to-HTML Conversion

That Doubled-Word Thing

3: Overview of Regular Expression Features and Flavors

A Casual Stroll Across the Regex Landscape

The Origins of Regular Expressions

At a Glance

Care and Handling of Regular Expressions

Integrated Handling

Procedural and Object-Oriented Handling

A Search-and-Replace Example

Search and Replace in Other Languages ...