[lug] REGEX DEVELOPMENT TOOL

[Eddie Kovsky]

Perl's Regexp::Debugger module is a great tool for debugging regular
expressions. It creates a visualization of each match as it runs,
which is really handy for spotting match failures and identifying
backtracking.

If you're doing any XML/HTML parsing, the WWW::Mechanize module is
really handy. It will handle parsing the markup for you and match it
against any regex you pass in. There's also a ruby implementation
called Nokogiri.

-Eddie

On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Gordon Golding <gordongoldin at aim.com> wrote:
> Looks like I will be developing a lot of regex's.
> Legacy  systems send info - client info, transactions, info about suppliers
> for the transaction, etc.. in packed text files.
> Basic structure is known, but there are so many variants, even from one
> client.
> So there needs to be a flexible library of regexs which can be re-used and
> extended.
>
> Are there any tools better than regex?  Like a powerful parser tool - like
> the front end of a compiler?
> ( I will be drawn and quartered in the public square for desecrating the
> name of regex...)
>
> After my "correction" by the Spanish Inquisition for asking the above
> question....
> What about the best tool to develop and manage a tree of Regexs?
>
> Like the way a code management system gives you the tree -
> I could see the parents and siblings and easily see differences, so I could
> easily visualize and grab "this from branch A and this from C and quickly
> create my hybrid".
>
> Gordon Golding
>
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