Want learn StringRegExp, but help file is not beginer friendly

[kcvinu]

Hi all,

StringRegExpReplace is a great function and the example in help file is a marvelous piece of coding of functional programming. What a beauty it is. StringRegExp is a wonderful feature in AutoIt. How can I learn more about StringRegExp. Unfortunately, article in help file is not very well for a beginner. Where I can find the best tutorials about StringRegExp. Does any difference between other Regular Expression tutorials and AutoIt RegExp ?

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Test1()
Test2()
Test3()

; This example demonstrates a basic replacement.  It replaces the vowels aeiou
; with the @ character.
Func Test1()
    Local $sInput = "Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?"
    Local $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sInput, "[aeiou]", "@")
    Display($sInput, $sOutput)
EndFunc   ;==>Test1

; The following example demonstrates using back-references to change the date
; from MM/DD/YYYY to DD.MM.YYYY
Func Test2()
    Local $sInput = 'some text1 12/31/2009 01:02:03 some text2' & @CRLF & _
            'some text3 02/28/2009 11:22:33 some text4'
    Local $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sInput, '(\d{2})/(\d{2})/(\d{4})', ' $2.$1.$3 ')
    Display($sInput, $sOutput)
EndFunc   ;==>Test2

; The following example demonstrates the need to double backslash
Func Test3()
    Local $sInput = '%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\'
    Local $sOutput = StringRegExpReplace($sInput, '%([^%]*?)%', 'C:\\WINDOWS\\Some Other Folder$')
    Display($sInput, $sOutput)
EndFunc   ;==>Test3

Func Display($sInput, $sOutput)
    ; Format the output.
    Local $sMsg = StringFormat("Input:\t%s\n\nOutput:\t%s", $sInput, $sOutput)
    MsgBox($MB_SYSTEMMODAL, "Results", $sMsg)
EndFunc   ;==>Display

[water]

First of all: The search function of the forum is your friend

Looking for "Regular Expressions tutorial" showed up a lot of threads including >this one. Should at least be a good starting point.

[SadBunny]

This is also a great resource: http://www.regular-expressions.info/

But regexone.com seems rather to the point as well.

[kcvinu]

Hi ,

Thanks to

water and SadBunny. Let me check the link.

[jguinch]

The forum is the very good way to learn : search for regex and open topics, then try to understand the code.

You can also try your expressions with an online regex tester like regex101.com which explain in details the expression content. This web site contains a Community tab with a lot of examples.

[jchd]

AutoIt help file isn't meant to be a tutorial: no more for regexps than for, say, the Windows messaging system. When you select a regepx tutorial, prefer one about the PCRE (Perl-Compatible Regular Expressions) flavor, which is what AutoIt uses.

[kcvinu]

Hi,

Thank you 

jchd, jguinch.