Get example matches that fit a regular expression

Question

Possible Duplicates:
Random Text generator based on regex
Using Regex to generate Strings rather than match them

Hi, I need a matches generator for my regular expressions. E.g. for input like:

[A-Z]+[0-9]?

I get output:

FDLJUIOAF
LFDSJKHI8
B
IJKL5

And so on. I need this to show client what commands are currently supported so he can tell me what he wants to be added.

Does anyone know if there are such services?

Answer 1

Problem is - for some expressions you can have an unlimited number of strings that match it. You could brute-force all strings of length 5, but that is very computationally intensive already. I am of the opinion that a human can do a better REPRESENTATIVE job.

Answer 2

There are some similar questions here:

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22115/using-regex-to-generate-strings-rather-than-match-them
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/205411/random-string-that-matches-a-regexp
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/274011/random-text-generator-based-on-regex

Answer 3

Here's a microsoft tool which does exactly this job:

msdn.microsoft.com : The regular expression generator

Note that the dialect may be different from the one you are using - check carefully.