I maintain the Python Improved syntax highlighting language definition for the Sublime Text code editor, and needed to get up to speed on regexes in general, plus have a good handy reference at hand where I could quickly look stuff up. I browsed through a number of regex titles from O'Reilly and elsewhere, and finally decided on this one because of the reviews and structure. I have not been disappointed in the least. The recipe-based format is great for finding exactly what you need quickly ("How do I match a sequence ahead without capturing it?"), and the multi-language explanations are great for transitioning from one language to another. I primarily use Python and Oniguruma (the regex engine used by Ruby), but also need to run PCRE searches as well, and this book has been great for learning the small differences between them. It's always within arm's reach at my desk, and along with regex101.com has been a fantastic resource for learning this arcane yet incredibly powerful language.

This was a good purchase. Normally I'm not a big fan of "cookbook" style programming guides, but RegEx was kicking my butt... so I had to do something! As a .Net programmer who also occasionally dabbles in other environments, I really appreciated the approach of separate descriptions for each environment.

The range of examples is broad - in a good sense. Most of them are practical, real-world applications for most programmers, so understanding what they're trying to accomplish really helped in understanding the "how" of the implementation.

It does what the title says. Common RegEx recipes. Its utility depends on what kinds of operations you seek to accomplish using regular expressions to begin with.

I've never needed most of these recipes. I'm not a sysadmin - I work with natural-language processing primarily.

If you don't know whether you need this, just use StackOverflow.

Jan Goyvaerts is well-known in the RegEx community; Steven Levithan somewhat less so. But the degree of fame is unimportant, both are Regular Expressions gurus and really know what they are talking about. Goyvaerts also writes and publishes some really cool software tools, including two for dealing with Regular Expressions.

The last great book on Regular Expressions was "Mastering Regular Expressions" by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl, also published by O'Reilly. This book does not replace "Mastering Regular Expressions", but complements it. Between the two volumes, you'll know everything of importance worth knowing about Regular Expressions and their use.

Regular Expressions are used to find specific patterns of text. For anyone working extensively with text of any kind, Regular Expressions are as necessary as water and air to sustaining human life. Most people never get behind the primitive search functions of their word processor or spreadsheet program. Too bad: they're missing a lot.

The ugly part of what they're missing is learning how to use Regular Expressions.

Conceptually, Regular Expressions are difficult for many people (like me) to grasp and even more difficult to learn. A big part of that is the staggering power of Regular Expressions ("regexp" or "regexes"). Want to a single search for specific words that are misspelled? Regex. How about sentences beginning or ending with specific words? Use a regex.

In their cookbook, the authors demonstrate more than a hundred examples. Better yet, they do it in seven common regex flavors. The authors claim "Regular Expressions Cookbook" is all you know to learn how to use Regular Expressions. They do start with the basics, but I question whether this book is all most will need. I think consulting one of the many fine Regular Expression tutorials on the web might be a helpful first step for the utter novice.

The cookbook itself is absolutely marvelous.

There are more than one hundred recipes, beginning with matching literal text; advancing through matching previously matched text again; retrieving a list of all matches; validating formats of things like email addresses, international phone numbers, even European VAT numbers; finding words not preceded or followed by a specific word; and much more.

This is, I short, a book for the true geek to curl up with and read. You may not need the information now, but you will need it someday and just browsing is an effective way to pick it up. Likewise, if you're looking for an immediate solution to a problem right now, just check the Table Of Contents. Odds are you'll find what you're looking for or something real close. Sadly, however, the index isn't very good.

In short, this is the newest benchmark reference for Regular Expressions. With this and "Mastering Regular Expressions", you are going to be a Master of the Universe and do things with text that will leave ordinary mortals awestruck.

Jerry

This volume provides an in depth discussion on how to incorporate regex programming in several major languages such as C# and VB. Extensive explanations of how to construct the appropriate regex patterns as well as the reasoning behind them are provided with each example It is a very useful resource that you will turn to time and time again when tackling tough text parsing challenges.