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Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
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Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Pub Date: July 19, 2002
More recent edition of this book available.
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-00289-3
Pages: 496
Slots: 1.0
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Overview

Regular expressions are an extremely powerful tool for manipulating text and data. They have spread like wildfire in recent years, now offered as standard features in Perl, Java, VB.NET and C# (and any language using the .NET Framework), PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, MySQL, awk, Emacs, and many other popular tools and languages. If you don't use regular expressions yet, you will discover in this book a whole new world of mastery over your data. If you already use them, you'll appreciate this book's unprecedented detail and breadth of coverage. If you think you know all you need to know about regular expressions, this book is a stunning eye-opener. In spite their wide availability, flexibility, and unparalleled power, regular expressions are frequently underutilized. Regular expressions allow you to code complex and subtle text processing that you never imagined could be automated. Regular expressions can save you time and aggravation. They can be used to craft elegant solutions to a wide range of problems. A command of regular expressions is an invaluable skill. Yet what is power in the hands of an expert can be fraught with peril for the unwary.

Mastering Regular Expressions will help you navigate the minefield to becoming an expert. Once you've mastered regular expressions, they'll become an invaluable part of your toolkit. You will wonder how you ever got by without them. Mastering Regular Expressions, Second Edition has been thoroughly updated to include all the new features of Perl 5.8, as well as several other languages, including Java, VB.NET, C#, Python, JavaScript, Tcl, and Ruby. Written in the lucid, entertaining tone that made a complex, dry topic crystal-clear to thousands of programmers, and sprinkled with solutions to complex real-world problems, Mastering Regular Expressions offers a wealth information that you can put to immediate use. Topics include:

  • A comparison of features among different versions of many languages and tools

  • How the regular expression engine works

  • Optimization (major savings available here!)

  • Matching just what you want, but not what you don't want

  • Sections and chapters on individual languages

 
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Regular expressions are an extremely powerful tool for manipulating text and data. They are now standard features in a wide range of languages and popular tools, including Perl, Java, VB.NET and C# (and any language using the .NET Framework), PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, MySQL, awk, and Emacs. If you don't use regular expressions yet, you will discover in this book a whole new world of mastery over your data. If you already use them, you'll appreciate this book's unprecedented detail and breadth of coverage. If you think you know all you need to know about regular expressions, this book is a stunning eye-opener. A command of regular expressions is an invaluable skill. Yet what is power in the hands of an expert can be fraught with peril for the unwary. Mastering Regular Expressions will help you navigate the minefield to becoming an expert.
Amazon.com Review
Regular expressions are a central element of UNIX utilities like egrep and programming languages such as Perl. But whether you're a UNIX user or not, you can benefit from a better understanding of regular expressions since they work with applications ranging from validating data-entry fields to manipulating information in multimegabyte text files. Mastering Regular Expressions quickly covers the basics of regular-expression syntax, then delves into the mechanics of expression-processing, common pitfalls, performance issues, and implementation-specific differences. Written in an engaging style and sprinkled with solutions to complex real-world problems, Mastering Regular Expressions offers a wealth information that you can put to immediate use.
 
Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness')
Average Customer Rating:based on 132 reviews.
take the fear out of regex, 2009-05-27
Reviewer rating:
Very useful book, the first 6 chapters are general introduction to the tips and tricks of creating and using regexes which applies to all flavors and versions of regular expressions in different programming and scripting languages. The author has a good writing style which does not intimidate but is to the point and concise.
\bGreat\sB(o)\1k\b, 2009-05-21
Reviewer rating:
This is the standard textbook on Regular Expressions and for good reason. The third edition however covers the different shades of RegEx from many programming perspectives including {Egrep, Perl, PHP, Java, .NET}

A mix of humor coupled with real examples will get you to master status with RegEx in no time. I have read this book like 5 times and still use it a lot.

This book does for RegEx what Cormen's book does for Algorithms.




This book is about 'Mastery,' not 'solving your problem right away'., 2009-05-18
Reviewer rating:
Indispensable.

Friedl's 'Regular Expressions' is in-depth and thorough. It has provided me with the framework to become proficient in crafting efficient Regular Expressions as I need them, and that's just what the author intended.

It's not a cookbook to solve the problem you suspect might best be tackled with a 'regexp' expression (you know; the problem that made you think of looking at this book in the first place). But a perusal over a few nights -- not more than a week, though -- and you'll be able to work quickly and efficiently in whatever regexp-supporting environment you're in.

I never give more than four stars because nothing is ever perfect, but I'd be hard-pressed to imagine a better reference or learning aid than this book.
Good Book, 2009-04-21
Reviewer rating:
As with any review of a technical book, an understanding of the reviewer's previous experience with the topic is necessary. I had understanding of regular expressions on a basic level; I knew that .* matched everything, and a few other simple expressions. This book by O'Reilly starts on this basic level, and quickly advances towards more complicated expressions. All along, it uses numerous examples to not only illustrate the usefulness of each different tool, but also the pitfalls that each tool presents. Mastering Regular Expressions clears up common misconceptions and misguided thoughts with questions of ambiguous expressions, and in doing so allows you to craft regexes without running into constant roadblocks.

After going over the more semantic expressions, the book delves into a discussion of the underlying engines that drive regular expressions in a thorough and mostly clear way, which is an accomplishment considering the advanced language theory and esoteric formulas that are the basis behind regular expressions. While Friedl's explanations and examples are top notch, I believe that his strongest point is the pace at which he goes along. Whenever I was confused or questioning why something was a certain way, Friedl inevitably encouraged a reread of the previous section. He is distinctly aware of his readership and the subject he writes about, and is thus able to know exactly when the reader should go back over a section to make sure that they fully comprehend it. Freidl shows a clear mastery of regular expressions himself, and is able to highlight pros and cons of various methods and engines, what works and what does not. This thorough understanding of the subject combined with ability to succinctly and clearly teach it makes this book a must read for anyone interested in using regular expressions in any capacity.
Excellent Book, 2009-04-18
Reviewer rating:
If you have decided to achieve the thorough knowledge of regular expressions, your search ends here. Get this book and read it. Believe me you don't need to take any course or pay high fees to extensions to learn RE.

I strongly recommend this book.

-Mohammad K.
 
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Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition
by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Pub Date: July 19, 2002
More recent edition of this book available.
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-596-00289-3
Pages: 496
Slots: 1.0
Start Reading
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