The mathematical ones are a tool for defining languages, but are frequently used in programming languages to make manipulating strings easier. While they are equivalent in power to a non-deterministic finite automata, many implementations of them pro
The mathematical ones are a tool for defining languages, but are frequently used in programming languages to make manipulating strings easier. While they are equivalent in power to a non-deterministic finite automata, many implementations of them provide extra features that make them Turing complete. Most advanced text editors include an option to search for and replace strings using them, but the exact syntax is often varied. Perl offers what is usually consider the most fully featured version of them and many programs offer "Perl Compatible" ones. For ten points, identify these tools often jokingly abbreviated and pluralized as "regexen."
The mathematical ones are a tool for defining languages, but are frequently used in programming languages to make manipulating strings easier.
{regular expression} (prompt on early "regex" or "regexes" or "regexen")