Awesome Regex
Awesome Regex
About the Bundle
Bundle details
Example based guide to mastering Regular Expressions in various programming languages, text editors and command line tools. The bundle includes the following seven books:
- Understanding Python re(gex)? (builtin re and third-party regex modules)
- Understanding JavaScript RegExp
- Understanding Ruby Regexp
- CLI text processing with GNU grep and ripgrep (BRE/ERE, PCRE, Rust regex crate, PCRE2)
- CLI text processing with GNU sed (BRE/ERE)
- CLI text processing with GNU awk (ERE)
- Vim Reference Guide
The above links point to GitHub repos for the respective book. These repos have files used in examples/exercises and other information related to the books.
- Understanding Python re(gex)?, JavaScript RegExp and Ruby Regexp books are solely focused on regular expressions.
- CLI text processing with GNU grep and ripgrep, GNU sed and GNU awk books will help you learn how to use these command line tools from the terminal. The various regex flavors used in these tools are discussed in dedicated chapters/sections with plenty of examples. See my blog post for subtle differences between the BRE/ERE implementations in these tools.
- Vim Reference Guide focuses on the Vim text editor. There's an entire chapter for the Vim regex flavor.
Testimonials
I love your books on regex...As a student from the Digital VLSI space, it is indeed useful now and definitely in the future. It's really well written and really easy to understand the examples — feedback on reddit
Step up your cli fu with this fabulous intro & deep dive into awk. I learned a ton of tricks! — feedback on twitter
Literally was having a mini-breakdown about not understanding Regex in algorithm solutions the other day and now I'm feeling so much better, so thank YOU! I genuinely feel like I'm developing the skill for spotting when and where to use them after so much practice! — feedback on twitter
I consider myself pretty experienced at shell-fu and capable of doing most things I set out to achieve in either bash scripts or fearless one-liners. However, my awk is rudimentary at best, I think mostly because it's such an unforgiving environment to experiment in. These books you've written are great for a bit of first principles insight and then quickly building up to functional usage. I will have no hesitation in referring colleagues to them! — feedback on Hacker News
Hi, great work releasing this! Trying to explain vim concisely is always an interesting challenge and I had a great time reading your attempt in this book. I always find it really interesting on how people try to group certain vim functions in a way that makes sense to people that don't use vim. I think you cover that idea pretty well in your 'Vim philosophy and features' section whilst not making it overly abstract and keeping it relatable. — feedback on Hacker News
Thank you for choosing to write and share your knowledge. I read your books on CLI and sed - I think they are very comprehensive and very well explained. Keep up the great work — feedback on twitter
Bundle cover image created using canva.
About the Books
Understanding Python re(gex)?
Example based guide to mastering Python regular expressions
Book details
Scripting and automation tasks often need to extract particular portions of text from input data or modify them from one format to another.
This book will help you learn Python Regular Expressions, a mini-programming language for all sorts of text processing needs.
The book heavily leans on examples to present features of regular expressions one by one. It is recommended that you manually type each example and experiment with them.
Both the standard re module and the popular third-party regex module are covered in this book.
Exercises are also included to test your understanding.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with programming basics. You should also have a working knowledge of Python syntax and features like string formats, string methods and list comprehensions.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading manuals, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
If you have prior experience with a programming language but not Python, see my curated list of learning resources before starting this book.
Testimonials
I love your books on regex...As a student from the Digital VLSI space, it is indeed useful now and definitely in the future. It's really well written and really easy to understand the examples — feedback on reddit
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/py_regular_expressions for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Interactive exercises
Based on the book contents as well as the exercises, I made an interactive TUI app with 100+ questions covering both the builtin re module and the third-partyregex module. These exercises will test your understanding of anchors, alternation, grouping, escaping metacharacters, dot metacharacter, quantifiers, character class, lookarounds, flags, etc.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors. You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/py_regular_expressions/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
Understanding JavaScript RegExp
Example based guide to mastering JavaScript regular expressions
About
Scripting and automation tasks often need to extract particular portions of text from input data or modify them from one format to another.
This book will help you learn JavaScript Regular Expressions, a mini-programming language for all sorts of text processing needs.
The book heavily leans on examples to present features of regular expressions one by one. It is recommended that you manually type each example and experiment with them.
Exercises are included to test your understanding. Reference solutions are also provided.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with programming basics. You should also have a working knowledge of JavaScript syntax and functional programming concepts like map and filter.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading documentation, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
Testimonials
Literally was having a mini-breakdown about not understanding Regex in algorithm solutions the other day and now I'm feeling so much better, so thank YOU! I genuinely feel like I'm developing the skill for spotting when and where to use them after so much practice! — feedback on twitter
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_js_regexp for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_js_regexp/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
Understanding Ruby Regexp
Example based guide to mastering Ruby regular expressions
Book details
Scripting and automation tasks often need to extract particular portions of text from input data or modify them from one format to another.
This book will help you learn Ruby Regular Expressions, a mini-programming language for all sorts of text processing needs.
The book heavily leans on examples to present features of regular expressions one by one. It is recommended that you manually type each example and experiment with them.
Exercises are included to test your understanding. Reference solutions are also provided.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with programming basics. You should also have a working knowledge of Ruby syntax and features like string formats, string and Enumerable methods.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading documentation, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/Ruby_Regexp for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/Ruby_Regexp/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
CLI text processing with GNU grep and ripgrep
The search is on
You are likely to be familiar with using a search dialog (usually invoked with the Ctrl+F shortcut) to locate the occurrences of a particular string. The grep command is a versatile and feature-rich version of that search functionality usable from the command line. An important feature that GUI applications may lack is regular expressions, a mini-programming language to precisely define a matching criteria.
This book heavily leans on examples to present features one by one. In addition to command options, regular expressions will also be discussed in detail. Two different implementations are discussed in this book — GNU grep and ripgrep.
Exercises are also included to test your understanding.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with command line usage in a Unix-like environment. You should also be comfortable with concepts like file redirection and command pipelines.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading manuals, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
If you are new to the world of the command line, check out my Computing from the Command Line ebook and curated resources on Linux CLI and Shell scripting before starting this book.
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnugrep_ripgrep for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Interactive exercises
Based on the book contents as well as the exercises, I made an interactive TUI app with 50+ questions. Reference solutions are provided for both GNU grep and ripgrep.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnugrep_ripgrep/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
CLI text processing with GNU sed
awesome stream editor
You are likely to be familiar with using a search and replace dialog (usually invoked with the Ctrl+H shortcut) to locate the occurrences of a particular string and replace it with something else. The sed command is a versatile and feature-rich version for search and replace operations, usable from the command line. An important feature that GUI applications may lack is regular expressions, a mini-programming language to precisely define a matching criteria.
This book heavily leans on examples to present features one by one. In addition to command options, regular expressions will also be discussed in detail.
Exercises are also included to test your understanding.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with command line usage in a Unix-like environment. You should also be comfortable with concepts like file redirection and command pipelines. Knowing the basics of the grep command will be handy in understanding the filtering features of sed.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading manuals, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
If you are new to the world of the command line, check out my Computing from the Command Line ebook and curated resources on Linux CLI and Shell scripting before starting this book.
Testimonials
Thank you for choosing to write and share your knowledge. I read your books on CLI and sed - I think they are very comprehensive and very well explained. Keep up the great work — feedback on twitter
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnused for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Interactive exercises
Based on the book contents as well as the exercises, I made an interactive TUI app with 50+ questions. Reference solutions are also provided.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnused/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
CLI text processing with GNU awk
field processing and other awesome one-liners
About
When it comes to command line text processing, the three major pillars are grep for filtering, sed for substitution and awk for field processing. This book will dive deep into field processing, show examples for filtering features, multiple file processing, how to construct solutions that depend on multiple records, how to compare records and fields between two or more files, how to identify duplicates while maintaining input order and so on.
This book heavily leans on examples to present features one by one. Regular Expressions will also be discussed in detail.
Exercises are also included to test your understanding.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with command line usage in a Unix-like environment. You should also be comfortable with concepts like file redirection and command pipelines. Knowing the basics of the grep and sed commands will be handy in understanding the filtering and substitution features of awk.
As awk is a programming language, you are also expected to be familiar with concepts like variables, printing, functions, control structures, arrays and so on.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading manuals, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
If you are new to the world of the command line, check out my Computing from the Command Line ebook and curated resources on Linux CLI and Shell scripting before starting this book.
Testimonials
Step up your cli fu with this fabulous intro & deep dive into awk. I learned a ton of tricks! — feedback on twitter
I consider myself pretty experienced at shell-fu and capable of doing most things I set out to achieve in either bash scripts or fearless one-liners. However, my awk is rudimentary at best, I think mostly because it's such an unforgiving environment to experiment in. These books you've written are great for a bit of first principles insight and then quickly building up to functional usage. I will have no hesitation in referring colleagues to them! — feedback on Hacker News
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnuawk for markdown source, example files, exercise solutions and other details related to the book.
Interactive exercises
Based on the book contents as well as the exercises, I made an interactive TUI app with 80+ questions. Reference solutions are also provided.
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/learn_gnuawk/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
Vim Reference Guide
Concise learning resource for beginner to intermediate level Vim users
About
Vim Reference Guide is intended as a concise learning resource for beginner to intermediate level Vim users. It has more in common with cheatsheets than a typical text book. Topics like Regular Expressions and Macros have more detailed explanations and examples due to their complexity.
The features covered in this guide are shaped and limited by my own experiences since 2007. I had a rough beginning as a design engineer having to learn Linux command line, Vim and Perl on the job. I distinctly remember progressing from dd (delete current line) to d↓ (delete current line as well as the line below) and feeling happy that it reduced time spent on editing. I didn't know about count prefix or the various ways I could've deleted all the lines from the beginning of the file to the line containing a specific phrase. Or even better, I could've automated editing multiple files if I had been familiar with Sed or progressed that far with Perl.
I hope this guide would make it much easier for you to discover Vim features and learning resources than my own blundering experience.
Prerequisites
I do give a brief introduction to get started with using Vim, but having prior experience would be ideal before using this resource. As a minimum requirement, you should be able to use vimtutor on your own.
You are also expected to get comfortable with reading manuals, searching online, visiting external links provided for further reading, tinkering with the illustrated examples, asking for help when you are stuck and so on. In other words, be proactive and curious instead of just consuming the content passively.
Testimonials
Got several suggestions and feedback when my submission about this book reached the front page of Hacker News.
Great job on this! — rendall
Hi, great work releasing this! Trying to explain vim concisely is always an interesting challenge and I had a great time reading your attempt in this book. I always find it really interesting on how people try to group certain vim functions in a way that makes sense to people that don't use vim. I think you cover that idea pretty well in your 'Vim philosophy and features' section whilst not making it overly abstract and keeping it relatable. — doix
Neat stuff! One piece of feedback is that I would include "+p and "+yy in the copy and paste section. — mrpotato
I learnt regular expression by reading your books, thank you for the great work. — LamJH
A comment from another Hacker News thread:
I stumbled upon your vi post a few days ago, really like the style. Keep it up!
GitHub repo
Visit https://github.com/learnbyexample/vim_reference for markdown source and other details related to the book.
Chapters
- Preface
- Introduction
- Insert mode
- Normal mode
- Command-line mode
- Visual mode
- Regular Expressions
- Macro
- Customizing Vim
- CLI options
Feedback and Errata
I would highly appreciate it if you'd let me know how you felt about this ebook. It could be anything from a simple thank you, pointing out a typo, mistakes in code snippets, which aspects of the book worked for you (or didn't!) and so on. Reader feedback is essential and especially so for self-published authors.
You can reach me via:
- Issue Manager: https://github.com/learnbyexample/vim_reference/issues
- E-mail: learnbyexample.net@gmail.com
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/learn_byexample
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