Regex is a tool. You mostly just need to understand how it works and when it is useful to get value out of it. By virtue of having used it for a few years, I ca

Regex is a tool. You mostly just need to understand how it works and when it is useful to get value out of it. By virtue of having used it for a few years, I can generally read it well. I can do the regex crosswords. But I've used it effectively since the day someone told me what it was and I am not a genius. I just kept a guide near. As long as I knew what result I wanted I could use the guide to get it done. That's why I don't ever agree with these articles on regex being some alien language impossible to learn. It looks weird, we get it, it also kicks ass and takes only a minimal effort to understand an expression if you know that's what you're looking at.