Filed under: Developer, Utilities
RegExr: test regular expressions online
RegExr is a web tool for testing those widely used (yet often confusing) regular expressions. Regular expressions (regex) are search patterns that help you find strings of text in e-mail messages, text files, etc.
Things like Usenet search tools, Google Code search, and Open Office support regex, and regex versatility far surpasses simple wildcard searches like *.exe. For instance, a regular expression like .*@([^.]+\.)*example.com$ will find all email addresses from example.com (and its subdomains).
To use RegExr, type your expression in the top box, and then type/insert text in the box below to see if it matches your expression. You can use the helpful sidebar to learn about and insert different regex strings to build your overall pattern.
If you want a more feature-rich program, are running Windows, and have $39.95 to spare, try RegExBuddy. The RegExr developer plans to release free AIR versions of his product for Mac OS X and Windows.
UPDATE: The developer has recently released a significant update to RegExr that adds a code-sense engine and replace functionality.
The AIR version is now also available.
Things like Usenet search tools, Google Code search, and Open Office support regex, and regex versatility far surpasses simple wildcard searches like *.exe. For instance, a regular expression like .*@([^.]+\.)*example.com$ will find all email addresses from example.com (and its subdomains).
To use RegExr, type your expression in the top box, and then type/insert text in the box below to see if it matches your expression. You can use the helpful sidebar to learn about and insert different regex strings to build your overall pattern.
If you want a more feature-rich program, are running Windows, and have $39.95 to spare, try RegExBuddy. The RegExr developer plans to release free AIR versions of his product for Mac OS X and Windows.
UPDATE: The developer has recently released a significant update to RegExr that adds a code-sense engine and replace functionality.
The AIR version is now also available.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James said 2:18PM on 3-27-2008
Agent Ransack is another (free) tool for Windows that will, among other things, let you try out regular expressions (you supply both the text to search in and the expression, and then see if your expression turns up anything).
But its real 'thing' is a find-in-files utility. Besides being much faster at this than Windows, when you click on a result it shows you whatever line(s) from that file that the search term was found in; by seeing the context of the results, you save a lot of time by not having to open up every single file to see if it's really what you were looking for. And the program's available by right-clicking on a folder, too.
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/
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kingkool68 said 4:51PM on 3-27-2008
Awesome. I use http://design215.com/toolbox/regexp.php for everything I need. It's fairly straightforward with helpful examples.
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Stuart Halliday said 10:19AM on 3-28-2008
I use
http://www.roblocher.com/technotes/regexp.aspx
simple and effective.
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Andrew Ferguson said 8:31PM on 3-31-2008
I've been using Regex Coach (http://www.weitz.de/regex-coach/) for a number of years now and it's fantastic, free program to help develop expressions.
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