Synopsis
Regular expressions are a powerful tool for manipulating text and data. If you don't use them 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. With regular expressions, you can save yourself time and aggravation while dealing with documents, mail messages, log files -- you name it -- any type of text or data. For example, regular expressions can play a vital role in constructing a World Wide Web CGI script, which can involve text and data of all sorts. Regular expressions are not a tool in and of themselves, but are included as part of a larger utility. The classic example is grep. These days, regular expressions can be found everywhere, such as in: Scripting languages (including Perl, Tcl, awk, and Python) Editors (including Emacs, vi, and Nisus Writer) Programming environments (including Delphi and Visual C++) Specialized tools (including lex, Expect, and sed) While many of these tools originated on UNIX, they are now available for a wide variety of platforms, including DOS/Windows and MacOS, so you can use them in your home environment. Additionally, many favorite programming languages offer regular-expression libraries, so you can include support for them in your own programs, and yes, even applets. There can be certain subtle, but valuable, ways to think when you're using regular expressions, and these can be taught. Jeffrey Friedl has spent years helping people on the Net understand and use regular expressions. In this book he leads you through the steps of knowing exactly how to craft a regular expression to get the job done. Regular expressions are not used in a vacuum. In this book, a variety of tools are examined and used in an extensive array of examples, with a major focus on Perl. Perl is extremely well endowed with rich and expressive regular expressions. Yet what is power in the hands of an expert can be fraught with peril for the unwary. This book will help you navigate the minefield to becoming an expert.
About the Author
Jeffrey Friedl was raised in the countryside of Rootstown, Ohio, and had aspirations of being an astronomer until one day noticing a TRS-80 Model I sitting unused in the corner of the chem lab (bristling with a full 16k RAM, no less). He eventually began using UNIX (and regular expressions) in 1980. With degrees in computer science from Kent (B.S.) and the University of New Hampshire (M.S.), he is now an engineer with Omron Corporation, Kyoto, Japan. He lives in Nagaokakyou-city with Tubby, his long-time friend and Teddy Bear, in a tiny apartment designed for a (Japanese) family of three. Jeffrey applies his regular-expression know-how to make the world a safer place for those not bilingual in English and Japanese. He built and maintains the World Wide Web Japanese-English dictionary server, http://www.itc.omron.com/cgi-bin/j-e, and is active in a variety of language-related projects, both in print and on the Web. When faced with the daunting task of filling his copious free time, Jeffrey enjoys riding through the mountainous countryside of Japan on his Honda CB-1. At the age of 30, he finally decided to put his 6'4" height to some use, and joined the Omron company basketball team. While finalizing the manuscript for Mastering Regular Expressions., he took time out to appear in his first game, scoring five points in nine minutes of play, which he feels is pretty darn good for a geek. When visiting his family in The States, Jeffrey enjoys dancing a two-step with his mom, binking old coins with his dad, and playing schoffkopf with his brothers and sisters.
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