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First day on the job as tech support at a local dialup ISP/CLEC My manager gave me a regex cheatsheet, because we had a gigantic multi-file spam filter that we

First day on the job as tech support at a local dialup ISP/CLEC My manager gave me a regex cheatsheet, because we had a gigantic multi-file spam filter that we would all need to troubleshoot, and some of us were allowed to edit. It was fun. Cheat sheets are the way to go though, especially because of the different versions. If you do enough with them one day the main stuff will just stick. Once you're fairly productive you will realize you missed a feature or trick that is particularly useful for what you've been doing, and after getting mad at yourself for missing it you will add that into your repertoire. repeat. Also, don't be afraid to just split/cut and do it in your language of choice instead of regex. Most of the time it doesn't make too much of a difference performance wise. Many times it can be faster and/or more readable. The best approach is often a combination. Nobody likes the wizard that tries to put everything into one regex to rule them all. Regarding versions, I learned with PCRE, have mostly worked with python, and have hit problems using other various implementations over the years. Though it's never enough of a problem that I can remember what those differences are, I just look it up and move on. Unless it's going to be an ongoing project, in which case I print out a new cheatsheet and hang it up.

gorjusborg 2y ago
'Use a cheatsheat' and 'just use split/cut' are recommendations for how not to learn regular expressions. Regex is one of those things that need a solid base understanding, or you'll always hit things that will baffle and frustrate you as a programmer. Using split/cut is fine for a small subset of what regex can do, but I often hear that advice from people who also hate regex. If the goal is to like regex, read 'Mastering Regular Expressions'.

gorjusborg 2y ago

'Use a cheatsheat' and 'just use split/cut' are recommendations for how not to learn regular expressions. Regex is one of those things that need a solid base understanding, or you'll always hit things that will baffle and frustrate you as a programmer. Using split/cut is fine for a small subset of what regex can do, but I often hear that advice from people who also hate regex. If the goal is to like regex, read 'Mastering Regular Expressions'.