verbalexpressions / jsverbalexpressions

JavaScript Regular expressions made easy

PHPVerbalExpressions

• ported from VerbalExpressions

VerbalExpressions is a PHP library that helps to construct hard regular expressions.

Installation

The project supports Composer so you have to install Composer first, before project setup.

$ composer require  verbalexpressions/php-verbal-expressions:dev-master

Examples

<?php
// some tests
require './vendor/autoload.php';
use VerbalExpressions\PHPVerbalExpressions\VerbalExpressions;

$regex = new VerbalExpressions();

$regex->startOfLine()
      ->then("http")
      ->maybe("s")
      ->then("://")
      ->maybe("www.")
      ->anythingBut(" ")
      ->endOfLine();


if ($regex->test("http://github.com")) {
    echo "valid url". '<br>';
} else {
    echo "invalid url". '<br>';
}

if (preg_match($regex, 'http://github.com')) {
    echo 'valid url';
} else {
    echo 'invalid url';
}


echo "<pre>". $regex->getRegex() ."</pre>";

echo $regex->clean(array("modifiers" => "m", "replaceLimit" => 4))
           ->find(' ')
           ->replace("This is a small test http://somesite.com and some more text.", "-");

More examples are available in the following files:

• Example.php
• VerbalExpressionsTest.php

Business readable language expression definition

$definition = 'start, then "http", maybe "s", then "://", maybe "www.", anything but " ", end';
$regex = new VerbalExpressionsScenario($definition);

Methods list

Name	Description	Usage
add	add values to the expression	add('abc')
startOfLine	mark expression with ^	startOfLine(false)
endOfLine	mark the expression with $	endOfLine()
then	add a string to the expression	add('foo')
find	alias for then	find('foo')
maybe	define a string that might appear once or not	maybe('.com')
anything	accept any string	anything()
anythingBut	accept any string but the specified char	anythingBut(',')
something	accept any non-empty string	something()
somethingBut	anything non-empty except for these chars	somethingBut('a')
replace	shorthand for preg_replace()	replace($source, $val)
lineBreak	match \r \n	lineBreak()
br	shorthand for lineBreak	br()
tab	match tabs \t	tab()
word	match \w+	word()
anyOf	any of the listed chars	anyOf('abc')
any	shorthand for anyOf	any('abc')
range	adds a range to the expression	range(a,z,0,9)
withAnyCase	match case default case sensitive	withAnyCase()
stopAtFirst	toggles the g modifiers	stopAtFirst()
addModifier	add a modifier	addModifier('g')
removeModifier	remove a mofier	removeModifier('g')
searchOneLine	Toggles m modifier	searchOneLine()
multiple	adds the multiple modifier	multiple('*')
_or	wraps the expression in an or with the provided value	_or('bar')
limit	adds char limit	limit(1,3)
test	performs a preg_match	test('[email protected]')

For all the above method (except test) you could use the VerbalExpressionsScenario.

Other Implementations

You can see an up to date list of all ports on VerbalExpressions.github.io.

• Javascript
• Ruby
• C#
• Python
• Java
• C++

Building the project and running the tests

The project supports Composer so you have to install Composer first before project setup.

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
php composer.phar install --dev
ln -s vendor/phpunit/phpunit/phpunit.php phpunit
./phpunit

jsverbalexpressions's Issues

Racket Port

Alpha Release Here for Racket:

https://github.com/brudgers/RacketVerbalExpressions

Logo

We need a logo for this organisation any suggestions/contributions ?

anythingBut string?

Is there any current usage for supporting anythingBut('sequence')? Eg, saying "match anything but this string" instead of "match anything but these characters"?

Port to other languages

Given the relatively small size of the VerbalExpression class and its general usefulness I feel it would be easy and helpful to port it to other languages. I see that @putneyj is working on a Java version, and I'd be willing to port it to C++ / PHP as well if you think it's a good idea.

Predefined expressions

Good expressions to use to catch URLs, emails and XML.
Or even other most-commonly-used regular expressions

Make it a web service ?

Hi Jehna,

This API is a great idea but I think it should be a web service to help developers to understand or generate complicated regexp.
I think it will be more useful than loading the JS in our webpages to be able to write human-readable regexp.

My two cents,

Regards,

Move to organistion

Since we started an organisation here https://github.com/VerbalExpressions and this repo is the most popular i propose to move it to the organisation so people can have easy access to the other repos available there.
The idea here is to have them all in one place so we can maintain them better.

Resultant expression

Do you think there could be use in a function that returns the resultant expression? Happy to do this if there are folks wanting it.

D port

Hello,

I've created a port of of JSVerbalExpressions into D programming language. The git repository is here:

https://github.com/diegolagoglez/DVerbalExpressions

This port is still in an early stage, so this may not work properly.

Best regards.

Why are return values wrapped in parentheses?

I noticed that most return values are wrapped in parentheses, like that:

return( this );

Is that just a personal convention or is there any reasoning behind this?

Usage example?

This looks like a brilliant idea at first but then I've encountered some difficulties immediately trying to convert a very basic Regex to Verex:

string.split(/\s(.+)?/, 2)

How do I rewrite this in Verex?

Also, an online sandbox that display Verex and the equivalent Regex side-by-side would be really helpful.

Documentation - JSFiddle Link

Could you supply a link in the ReadMe.md to jsFiddle with an already set up project to test/play around with.

Something like this:

• http://jsfiddle.net/nmz8o8b6/

---

Edit: Updated to always use latest version (2019)

• http://jsfiddle.net/hjLdq4tk

Clojure port

https://github.com/Foxboron/ClojureVerbalExpressions

Been working on a clojure port.
Missing tests and a match function at the moment but should be done by the end of the night.
EDIT: All done. Rewriting portions to mimic the JS one more closly.

Documentation

Add clear API documentation

Remove deprecated .compile() call in .add()

regex.compile is deprecated and isn't supported in Opera.

I'm not sure how to do this without creating a new VerbalExpression object to return every time .add is called, though.

maybe write tests?

I can write for javascript version on Jasmine

Chatroom for discussions specific to this project

Can someone please share/set up a chat room for this?

Minified version is missing

Should add automated way of minifying the script.

Objective-C/Cocoa Port

Hi,

I'd like to make an Objective-C port using NSRegularExpression. Anybody else interested in joining me?

PowerShell Port

I have a partial implementation done in PowerShell.

The repository is available here: PowerShellVerbalExpressions

note: the code is a port of Peder Søholt's - CSharpVerbalExpressions

Port to FreeBASIC

I have ported this to the FreeBASIC language, http://freebasic.net. FreeBASIC doesn't have native regex but can use C libraries (being close to C itself makes this easy) so this implementation uses PCRE. I expanded from an earlier version of my code that used posix regex so other regex engines are possible and I'd be happy to build support for that if users want it.

Register JSVerbalExpressions as bower package

add possibility to install library through bower package manager

Elixir Port

Created an Elixir port here: https://github.com/maxsz/ElixirVerbalExpressions

Translate to normal RegEx

How can I translate this form RegEx to normal?
May I use this library as interpreter to normal Regular Expression?

i.e.:
Write -> VerbalExpression
Get - > RegEx

Cheat sheet

Make cheat sheet out of the documentation

Performance tests needed

Even if the regexes produced are optimized, it'll still be worth doing. If possible, a guide for how to write perf tests would be helpful, too.

Are there any recommended ways to do perf testing in the repo or is externally on jsperf the only good option?

Perl port

I've created a Perl port.

https://github.com/akiym/PerlVerbalExpressions

Haskell Port

Hello,

I have a haskell port @ http://github.com/whackashoe/HaskellVerbalExpressions

Can you give me a repository at the VerbalExpressions group for it? Thanks!

LineBreak - a better match

It seems to me that, for completeness, a better match for linebreak would be:
(?:\r\n|\r|\n)
And if only JS had atomic groups then it'd be this instead:
(?>\r\n|\r|\n)

re-use of tester results in incorrect output

verbalExpr = require("verbal-expressions")

endOfOutputTester = verbalExpr()
      .startOfLine()
      .then("www")

test1 = "www"
console.log(endOfOutputTester.test(test1))
console.log(endOfOutputTester.test(test1))
console.log(endOfOutputTester.test(test1))
console.log(endOfOutputTester.test(test1))
console.log(endOfOutputTester.test(test1))

the output is

true
false
true
false
true

using version 0.1.0

returning false when calling test() multiple times

returning false for the given example test on Firefox Nightly (v30) & Chrome 32.0.1700.107

Better readme file

Make readme file have more examples

Add git tag!!!

git tag v0.1.2
git push origin master --tags

that way we can install this with bower

Scala port

Created a scala port

https://github.com/snichme/ScalaVerbalExpressions

Plans on PyPI packaging?

I would very much like to use the python implementation of VerbalExpressions but I am not going to copy-paste the source into my sources in order to use it.
Could you please consider uploading it as a module onto the python package index?

I'd go ahead and do it myself, but this would basically prevent you from using the name.

Regards,
Max

Package as Node/npm module

Email format expression

I have implemented for email address validation, but no success.

var emailValidate = VerEx()
.startOfLine()
.anythingBut(" ")
.then("@")
.anythingBut(" ")
.then(".")
.anythingBut(" ")
.endOfLine();

if(!emailValidate.test("user@example."))alert("Incorrect");
else alert("Correct");

I am getting correct result with "user@example." email.

Converting existing regex pattern to VerbalExpressions?

Hello,

Can I feed a regex pattern to verbal expressions, and get back the verbal express representation?

Port to Swift

I've created a port to Swift: https://github.com/nubbel/SwiftVerbalExpressions

Erlang port

Made a port to Erlang

https://github.com/nmichel/ErlangVerbalExpressions

AS3 port

Hello

I ported (well, more like reformatted a bit) the library for AS3, and would like to add it to the list of ports.

Right now it resides at https://github.com/Dimonte/VerbalExpressions.AS3

Go implementation

Hi,

Very interessed by your project, I made a Go implementation. Can you open a repo in you organisation ?

Clojure port

Another Clojure port.

https://github.com/pbalduino/ClojureVerbalExpressions

anythingBut function uses * when users expect +

As seen in #16, there is some confusion as to the actual functionality of the anythingBut() method. The function is currently implemented using the regex * operator, meaning that anythingBut() will match any sequence other than the characters given, even if that is an empty sequence. But some people don't expect an empty sequence to be a possible result.

I think the best thing to do would be to split it into two functions, one that uses * and one that uses +. They'd have to be appropriately named so that it's clear in what context each should be used.

Thoughts?

Functions usable in others

For example, if I want to search for "anything but linebreak" that would be a lot prettier if I could do that this way:

.anythingBut( this.br() )

Shouldn't be hard, I think I can do the JS part, ideas?

Update: VerEx().br() works, so I'll close it.

Implementation rules

Hi,
Working on Go implementation, I checked other languages implementation to follow rules.

This is difficult for us... To my side I switch in Cpp and Python implementation + yours (javascript, that is not in organization list) to understand what to implement.

For example, "multiple" method is not easy to understand reading JS and PHP implementations wich makes something very different.

BTW I guess multiple implementation is not "as it should be"...

Is it possible to create a repo where we can work on implementation doc ?

Multiple() implementation

I guess my Go implementation gives more control... you can see

http://godoc.org/github.com/VerbalExpressions/GoVerbalExpressions#VerbalExpression.Multiple

I give possibilities:

multiple(value, min, max)

This is not complicated to do ans it's (I guess) efficient.

Edit, here are the calls and what they can do:

// get "foo" at least one time
v.Multiple("foo")
v.Multiple("foo", 1)

// get "foo" 0 or more times
v.Multiple("foo", 0)

//get "foo" 0 or 1 times
v.Multiple("foo", 0, 1)

// get "foo" 0 to 10 times
v.Multiple("foo",0 ,10)

//get "foo" at least 10 times
v.Multiple("foo", 10)

//get "foo" exactly 10 times
v.Multiple("foo", 10, 10)

//get "foo" from 1 to 10 times
v.Multiple("foo", 1, 10)

Specifying names for capture groups

Following up on go-oleg's comment on issue #17: I tried adding his suggestion to add names to capture groups. I've got something working but wanted to run my ideas past others first. Please note that this would be the first time I've ever contributed anything on github. Here's what I came up with:
beginCapture(group): The group parameter is optional. If it's an integer (or a string of all digits), the value must match the actual group number that would be assigned to the group (in JavaScript this would be the index into the array returned by regexp.exec()) or else it's an error. If it's some other string, it's a group name that's assigned to the capture group.
endCapture(group): The group parameter is optional; if present it must match the parameter of the corresponding beginCapture().
groupNumberFor(group): would be used after the expression is built to return the index number. E.g.
var tester = VerEx()
.startOfLine()
.beginCapture( "one" )
.then( "http" )
.maybe( "s" )
.endCapture( "one" )
.then( "://" )
.maybe( "www." )
.anythingBut( " " )
.endOfLine();
var testMe = "https://www.google.com";
var a = tester.exec(testMe);
a [tester.groupNumberFor( "one" )]) -- returns "https"

I'm not sure how to handle the errors, though (mismatched group name or number). I've made them throw exceptions, but if this is the wrong way to go I can change it. Again, I'm really new at this so any suggestions are appreciated.

the results should be true

var VerEx = require("verbal-expressions");
var tester = VerEx()
    .startOfLine()
    .then( "http" )
    .maybe( "s" )
    .then( "://" )
    .maybe( "www." )
    .anythingBut( " " )
    .endOfLine();
// Create an example URL
var testMe = "https://www.google.com";
console.log( tester.test( testMe )  );  // true
console.log( tester.test( testMe )  );  // false
console.log( tester.test( testMe )  );  //true
console.log( tester.test( testMe )  ); //false

the results should be true

How does grunt work without being specified in pacakage.json

In the main package.json, only grunt-contrib-qunit is defined as a dependency. How does this even work? I thought grunt should also be explicitly specified