Is their any wizards or tools to create and test regular expressions for PHP, because it is so difficult :( ? thanks :)
RegexBuddy is so good, I can't express it in 300 characters. Paid back whatever ($30 or $50) I paid for it within days.
mabwi
2009-02-18 00:56:45
+6
A:
reAnimator is a nice tool to visualize your regex as a state machine- I find it useful sometimes.
Python also allows you to view a regex parse tree, which can be helpful if you learn to read it.
Triptych
2009-02-12 21:47:44
A:
I generally use Rubular when I'm working on testing a regular expression. You could also try txt2re.com, it can be handy for helping you figure out an expression and can even generate relevant PHP code.
Chad Birch
2009-02-12 21:48:24
+3
A:
The Regex Coach is a great free regex tool that I use fairly regularly.
I like RegEx Buddy also, but it costs $40 and I'm cheap.
Chris Ballance
2009-02-12 21:49:40
+5
A:
Unit testing with example data. Create two arrays, one with matching data, and one with non-matching data if necessary to test edge cases.
Andrew Vit
2009-02-12 21:51:37
Whilst I like manually driven tools, like RegExpBuddy, and an add-in that's available for IntelliJ, having some unit tests to increase the long-term chances of the expression remaining valid is always a good idea.
belugabob
2009-07-15 09:59:49
+1
A:
Online... there's an ajax regex checker with js/pcre/posix implementations, that checks as you type.. way cool.
null
2009-02-13 01:21:34
+2
A:
Expresso is free and gives nice breakup and explanation of the regex under analysis.
Learning
2009-02-13 05:18:19
A:
I used to use The Regex Coach. But because it's Perl based and most of the time I'm testing .NET regular expressions, I now use this online .NET regular expression tester.
Steve Wortham
2009-07-13 20:56:14
+4
A:
Trial and error success.
Because I've spent the time to actually learn it, instead of relying on something else to do it for me.
Same applies to any language/tool - take a bit of time to learn the syntax and general ethos, and you'll be far more productive than relying on intellisense, code hinting, and so on.
Peter Boughton
2009-07-13 21:24:14
Hear, hear! (And the regex language isn't nearly as complex as it seems at first glance... I get them right on the first try much more often than not.)
Dave Sherohman
2009-07-15 09:54:23
I get them right by the third try much more often than not, but I'll get back to you in a few years.
Telemachus
2009-07-16 12:48:28
A:
I've written my own tool: Regular Expression Tester. Unlike many other web-based tools, this one can break a regex down into tokens and describe what each token is doing. It's great for examining new expressions, or expressions that you wrote a long time ago and don't quite remember.
Chris Nielsen
2009-07-13 21:28:55
A:
Since you're talking about PHP, you may be interested in Codebench. It is a tool, not specifically to break down regexes (you've got a lot of those listed already), but to benchmark them. Since it is rather generic, you can also compare non-regex solutions as often native string functions are faster. Moreover, it allows you to benchmark against multiple subjects (targets) as well. Hope you find it useful.
Geert
2009-07-15 09:36:52
A:
I'm using unit-testing. That way, I can grow my regex incrementally, being certain that the first cases I tested still pass. And if ever I have to modify it, I have all my tests to back me up.
philippe
2009-11-29 17:12:52