Mastering Regular Expressions: 2nd Edition: Unabridged Edition

Author: (USA) Fred E. Fitch
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Regular expressions are a powerful tool for manipulating text and data. In recent years, they have spread rapidly and are provided as standard features in many popular tools and languages, such as Perl, Java, VB.NET, C# (and any language using the .NET framework), PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, MySQL, awk, Emacs, and more. If you haven't used regular expressions before, you'll discover a whole new world of data mastery from this book. If you have, you'll fully appreciate the unprecedented depth and breadth of this book. If you think you already know everything about regular expressions, this book will open your eyes. Although regular expressions are easy to use, flexible, and powerful, we often fail to fully leverage them. Regular expressions can turn complex and tedious text processing tasks into automated work. They can save you time and reduce frustration. They can be used to create top-notch solutions for a wide range of problems. Regular expressions are an important technology. However, like any powerful tool, they can be dangerous if used carelessly in the hands of experts. Mastering Regular Expressions can help you navigate the pitfalls and become an expert. Once you master regular expressions, they will become an indispensable part of your toolkit. Mastering Regular Expressions, 2nd Edition has been completely updated to cover all new features provided by languages such as Perl 5.8, as well as Java, VB.NET, C#, Python, JavaScript, Tcl, Ruby, and others. Written in clear, engaging prose, the book presents the complex and often tedious subject of regular expressions in a way that is accessible to thousands of programmers, supported by real-world solutions to complex problems. Mastering Regular Expressions provides a wealth of practical information. The book covers topics such as:
· Comparing features across different versions of various languages and tools
· How regular expression engines work
· Optimization (providing key methods)
· How to match precisely
· Language-specific discussions