Regular expressions

Learn to read and write regular expressions, for searching relatively complex patterns in text documents, during this half-day ABIS training.

Regular Expressions have a somewhat negative connotation for most of us: unreadable syntax, too complex and cryptic ... You try to keep away from them where possible. This workshop finally makes an end to this attitude!

Whether you are a developer, a system administrator or a data analyst, you regularly need pattern matching: text analysis, complex searches, validating (web) forms ... Regular expressions have evolved over the years from within Unix and Perl into a really universal standard technique for pattern recognition, in all kinds of contexts: Linux, Python, Java/Scala, dotNet, Perl, XML, SQL, PHP, Ruby, JavaScript ...

Pattern matching: it's more than just getting hold of certain text characters; it is a particular and unique way to explore and parse data.

During this compact training

• we will focus on the syntax of regular expressions,
• we look for best practices, so that you can apply them optimally,
• we'll be writing surprisingly clear and readable patterns.