Yes! I have been writing regexes like this for 20+ years. The "well then just don't write line noise...?" realization comes easily for those of us that spent a

Yes! I have been writing regexes like this for 20+ years. The "well then just don't write line noise...?" realization comes easily for those of us that spent a few years "maturing out of Perl". Because first you stop writing Perl line noise, and then you realize that regexes are just another part of that line noise (because regex are so common in perl code). Regular expressions DEFINITELY ARE the right tool if the problem that you have is that you need to parse a regular grammar (or near-regular grammar)!!! Like, literally, they are 100% the right tool. Theoretically. Practically. Everything. The. Right. Tool. And they are also the absolutely, terribly, completely wrong tool if you need to do anything other than parse a (very nearly) regular grammar.