4. Visualizing Regex Execution using Finite State Machines
5. Repeat modifiers
6. Character Sets and Character Classes
7. Substring Extraction from Regular Expressions
8. Lookahead and Lookbehind
9. Maintaining Regular Expressions
10. Optimizing regular expressions
11. Parsing HTML Code and URL Query Strings with Regular Expressions
Afterword: This is not the end, but the beginning
Zsolt Nagy is a web development team lead, mentor and software engineer living in Berlin, Germany. He programs with JavaScript, Perl and other open source web technologies. Zsolt is also experienced in using and teaching regular expressions using these technologies. He writes a blog about lessons learned while solving complex problems, experimenting with technology and teaching other people on how to improve their skills. As a software engineer, he continuously challenges himself to stick to the highest possible standards.
This quick guide to regular expressions is a condensed code and syntax reference for an important programming technique. Using JavaScript and Perl 6 code, it demonstrates regex syntax in a well-organized format that can be used as a handy reference.
The Regex Quick Syntax Reference features short, focused code examples that show you how to use regular expressions to validate user input, split strings, parse input, and match patterns. Utilizing regular expressions to deal with search/replace and filtering data for backend coding is also covered.
You won’t find any bloated samples, drawn out history lessons, or witty stories in this book. What you will find is a language reference that is concise and highly accessible. The book is packed with useful information and is a must-have for any programmer.
You will:
Formulate an expression
Work with arbitrary char classes, disjunctions, and operator precedence
Execute regular expressions and visualize using finite state machines
Deal with modifiers, including greedy and lazy loops
Handle substring extraction from regex using Perl 6 capture groups, capture substrings, and reuse substrings