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Why are they called regular expressions if they can parse non-regular languages?
by xigoi 2y ago
Why are they called regular expressions if they can parse non-regular languages?
- donaldihunter 2y agoThe word 'regular' comes from the mathematical roots of automata and finite state machines.
- moomin 2y agoWhich have a one to one correspondence with regular languages, so this isn’t actually an answer to the question.
- db48x 2y agoIt’s gradually got so. <https://youtu.be/JIlpjJnc6qY?t=54 https://youtu.be/JIlpjJnc6qY?t=54> Literally, Larry Wall was adding things to regexes all the way back before the release of Perl 2.