b-rodrigues / regularity Goto Github PK

Regularity is a friendly regular expression builder for R inspired by Ruby's Regularity library and R's Magrittr package package.

What's simpler to create / decipher?

/^[0-9]{3}-[A-Za-z]{2}#?[a|b]a{2,4}\$$/

Or

Regularity() %>%
StartWith(3, 'digits') %>%
Then('-') %>%
Then(2, 'letters') %>%
Maybe('#') %>%
OneOf(c('a','b')) %>%
Between(c(2,4), 'a') %>%
EndWith('$')

I know which I'd choose!

Regularity is not currently on CRAN as it's still in early development but in the meantime it can be installed in R using devtools

install_github("martineastwood/Regularity")

All you need to do is create a Regularity object and then chain the regex functions together. The functions either take a single pattern, e.g. Then("xyz"), or a numbered constraint such as Then(2, 'digits').

The following special identifers are supported:

digit        <- '[0-9]'
lowercase    <- '[a-z]'
uppercase    <- '[A-Z]'
letter       <- '[A-Za-z]'
alphanumeric <- '[A-Za-z0-9]'
whitespace   <- '\s'
space        <- ' '
tab          <- '\t'

Also, it doesn't matter if these identifiers are pluralized, i.e. Then(2, 'letters') works just the same as Then(1, 'letter')

The following functions are currently supported:

StartWith(pattern): The line must start with the specified pattern. This must be called before any of the other functions. (Also aliased to StartsWith).

Append(pattern): Append a pattern to the end (Also aliased to Then), e.g. Append('abc')

EndWith(pattern): The line must end with the specified pattern. This must be the final function called, e.g. EndWith('X')

Maybe(pattern): Zero or one of the specified pattern, e.g. Maybe(4, 'digits')

OneOf(values): Specify a choice, e.g. OneOf(c('a', 'b', 'c'))

Between(range, pattern): Specify a bounded repetition, e.g. between(c(2,4), 'digits')

ZeroOrMore(pattern): Specify that the pattern or identifer should appear zero or many times, e.g. ZeroOrMore('letters')

OneOrMore(pattern): Specify that the pattern or identifer should appear one or many times, e.g. OneOrMore('letters')

AtLeast(n, pattern): Specify that the pattern or identifer should appear n or more times, e.g. AtLeast(5, 'letters')