[squeaky-clean]

I will always keep a Windows install at the ready just for RegexBuddy. I use it mostly to take a regex and generate the code I need for it (e.g. find the first numbered group in match in javascript), without having to remember language specific details.

[rgb122]

Why don't you just learn learn Linux and pcre? What use are 2-bit windows tools? Don't fill your head with windows - a dead os walking

[dahart]

I think parent said why: there's no RegexBuddy on Linux. I can see you're new, so I won't be harsh but HN isn't the place for this kind of commentary. Everyone here understands the difference between Windows and Linux. Judging and/or trolling over Windows is boring, take it over to Reddit or something.

[squeaky-clean]

Yes, thank you. I of course use Linux, but I really don't care to remember the specifics of regex libraries across PHP, Python, JS or Java. So I just work out my regex, and from the drop downs choose "Use->Javascript->Chrome->Get Text From Numbered Group". And it spits out like 6 lines of JS that will handle cases of it either being found or not. You can choose the names of the ingoing and outgoing variables.

You don't always get to pick the flavor of regex engine you're using and I've sort of become (partly because of RegexBuddy) the "regex expert" at the office. Aside from `re` in Python I don't even remember the names of the regex libraries. Why should I?

[dahart]

The funny part (to me) is that it was already obvious you use Linux or mac -- some flavor of (star)nix -- because you said you keep a Windows install at the ready. That implies to me that Windows isn't your primary OS. I keep a Windows install at the ready too, for a whole bunch of reasons that have nothing to do with how much I like or dislike Windows.

I would love to be able to remember regex specifics from lib to lib and app to app, but try as I might, I can't. I never know if I have lookaheads or backrefs or named captures available and what the syntax is, I can't remember if there are named character classes. I end up reading the docs, again, almost every time I dig into a regex problem. Same reason for me- I use too many flavors of regex libs. If I could stick to one language, I'd have some hope.

I haven't tried RegexBuddy, but now I'm going to because of your comment, thanks for sharing!

[squeaky-clean]

I highly recommend it if you have to deal with regex a lot. I really wish it was open-source, or there was some OSS alternative as good as it, but oh well. The tools linked above are great for simpler usage.

The built in regex step-debugger is also great, though I've learned that if I have to rely on that, it's probably not a task well suited to regex.

[fapjacks]

If, however, you're into judging and/or trolling over Linux, then welcome to HN! There are tons of upvotes to be had in comments disparaging Linux.

[dahart]

I'm sorry you feel that way, that sounds like maybe you've had some bad experiences here and are turning pessimistic about HN. Just because it happens doesn't mean it's universally accepted. Personally I would say exactly the same thing in response to the above comment if it was talking about Linux instead of windows and had nothing substantive to support it. Yes, you can find people who agree with any insults you want to throw out, but how about we try to be the good guys instead?

Find some awesomeness here on HN -- there's a lot of that too -- and comment about it. Build something and show it off or support someone else who's built something cool. Write comments that contribute meaningfully and are positive and you will find more upvotes than you can possibly imagine, if upvotes are what you're going for. And you're right, you can find lots of upvotes (and downvotes too) by judging other people's legitimate choices without even bothering to understand them, but that doesn't make HN a better place, it doesn't help anyone learn, and it might not make you happy in the long run either, even if it's fun for you at the time.

We get to decide if this place is cool and supportive and fun to play in, or lame and thorny and dangerous to share any of your thoughts for fear someone will be an ass about it and insult your choice of tools. I choose the former, and I'm happy to spread the love and request that people refrain from trying to knock others down or engage in flame wars.

I generally upvote people who reply to me just as a way to say thanks for reading what I wrote and engaging with me. Here's one for you. I hope you'll find more peace on HN and get exposure to more of the positive side of it. There are some incredibly amazing people here, and it's true there are also some destructive forces too. I hope you can let the crap roll off and seek out more of the good stuff!

[fapjacks]

This pipe dream is what drew me to HN ten years ago. And while there are specifically rules against drawing comparisons between HN and reddit, years ago, the parallel made sense. These days, being totally honest, I find reddit to be more approachable and friendly and informative in the types of subreddits I read than HN, the vast majority of times. The reason I keep coming back to HN is for the once-in-a-blue-moon comments which blow your mind. If those comments stopped happening, or if they started happening on reddit, I'd never come back. There is absolutely a creed which is the centerline of HN, and deviation from it -- even totally reasonable, level-headed deviation -- is often punished with downvotes into invisibility. I've specifically created a Chrome browser extension to remove all point/color information from post comments -- and recently uploaded it to Github [0] -- just to keep my own voting habits from being influenced by this brutal kraken of sameness that exists on HN. My post above is a little bit tongue-in-cheek, but in my experience, one of the subjects you can most find downvotes with is the classic win/*nix flamewar. Even something totally reasonable and said in a straightforward, matter-of-fact way which promotes something about Linux in a thread about Windows is annihilated. Unwanted facts and differing viewpoints are erased from existence. That's HN, even if there's some silver lining in there occasionally.

[0] https://github.com/fapjacks/antihnbs

[eru]

Perl compatible regular expressions are not regular expressions at all. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#Formal_defi...)