Missing a RegExp prepare function?

[1RV34]

I want to generate a regex from an user input and need a regex prepare function.
I couldn't find any in the documentation, am I missing something?
It should escape out all regex characters, so like "te.st" would become "te.st".

[FireFox]

;\Q your text \E
\Qte.st\E

[1RV34]

But what happens if I use E in the input text?

I'm currently using:

Func _RegExpQuote($text)
    Return StringRegExpReplace($text, "\.|\\|\+|\*|\?|\[|\^|\]|\$|\(|\)|\{|\}|\=|\!|\<|\>|\||\:|\-", "\\\0")
EndFunc

I was hoping there was a built in function for that instead.

Edited March 14, 2014 by 1RV34

[mikell]

You only need to escape special characters

Func _Escape($string)
  Local $pattern_escape = "(\.|\||\*|\?|\+|\(|\)|\{|\}|\[|\]|\^|\$|\\)"
  Local $res = StringRegExpReplace($string, $pattern_escape, "\\$1")
  Return $res
EndFunc

[jchd]

Safe (but pedestrian) bet:

Func _RegExpQuote($text)
    Return Execute(StringRegExpReplace($text, '(?s)(.)', '"\\x{" & Hex(AscW("\1"), 4) & "}" & ') & '""')
EndFun

[1RV34]

 

You only need to escape special characters

Func _Escape($string)
  Local $pattern_escape = "(\.|\||\*|\?|\+|\(|\)|\{|\}|\[|\]|\^|\$|\\)"
  Local $res = StringRegExpReplace($string, $pattern_escape, "\\$1")
  Return $res
EndFunc

Why not =, !, <, >, : and -?

 

Safe (but pedestrian) bet:

Func _RegExpQuote($text)
    Return Execute(StringRegExpReplace($text, '(?s)(.)', '"\\x{" & Hex(AscW("\1"), 4) & "}" & ') & '""')
EndFun

Isn't it better to avoid the usage of Execute()?

 

My initial question of this topic was if AutoIt had a built in escaping function, but I'm guessing from the answers that this is a no.

[jchd]

Sorry for Execute, it is a necessary evil in that case. The idea is easily transposed to whatever engine having x{} or similar and irrespective of the set of special characters or sequences of the engine.

Edited March 14, 2014 by jchd