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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Matching within multiline strings, and ignoring case in regular expressions

Regular Expressions are powerful matching tools and you can specify almost anything within them. But there are certain facilities that are naturally applied to the regular expression as a whole rather than to parts of the match, and there are specified in a different way in each language / implementation.

For example, in what is commonly known as multiline mode you may want to match not only at the start / end of the string as a whole, but also match at embedded new lines. You can specify multiline mode as follows:

In Tcl, using the -lineanchor option
In Perl, with the /m modifier on the end of your regex
In Python by adding re.M or re.MULTILINE to your compile

Here's an example, in Tcl, looking for embedded lined containing just ABC:

set samples [list "Hello world\nABC\nThis matches" \
"Another test\nABCD\nNo match" ]

foreach sample $samples {
puts [regexp -lineanchor {^ABC$} $sample]
}



ther facilities often added onto your regular expression as modifiers include:

a) The ability to have "." (the dot) match any character at all, and not to exclude the newline character which it does by default. Sometimes known as single line of linestop mode.

In Tcl, leave off the -linestop option
In Perl, add /s
In python, add re.DOTALL onto the compile

b) The ability to ignore case in the match

In Perl, /i
In Python, re.I or re.IGNORECASE
In Tcl, use (?i through ) in the regex

c) The ability to add white space as comments into your expression

In Perl, /x
In Python, re.VERBOSE
In Tcl, use (?X through ) in the regex
(written 2006-11-25, updated 2006-11-26)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Y108 - Python - String Handling
  [324] The backtick operator in Python and Perl - (2005-05-25)
  [463] Splitting the difference - (2005-10-13)
  [496] Python printf - (2005-11-15)
  [560] The fencepost problem - (2006-01-10)
  [773] Breaking bread - (2006-06-22)
  [903] Pieces of Python - (2006-10-23)
  [954] Splitting Pythons in Bradford - (2006-11-29)
  [970] String duplication - x in Perl, * in Python and Ruby - (2006-12-07)
  [1110] Python - two different splits - (2007-03-15)
  [1195] Regular Express Primer - (2007-05-20)
  [1517] Python - formatting objects - (2008-01-24)
  [1608] Underlining in Perl and Python - the x and * operator in use - (2008-04-12)
  [1876] Python Regular Expressions - (2008-11-08)
  [2284] Strings as collections in Python - (2009-07-12)
  [2406] Pound Sign in Python Program - (2009-09-15)
  [2692] Flexible search and replace in Python - (2010-03-25)
  [2721] Regular Expressions in Python - (2010-04-14)
  [2765] Running operating system commands from your Python program - (2010-05-14)
  [2780] Formatted Printing in Python - (2010-05-25)
  [2814] Python - splitting and joining strings - (2010-06-16)
  [3090] Matching to a string - what if it matches in many possible ways? - (2010-12-17)
  [3218] Matching a license plate or product code - Regular Expressions - (2011-03-28)
  [3349] Formatting output in Python through str.format - (2011-07-07)
  [3468] Python string formatting - the move from % to str.format - (2011-10-08)
  [3469] Teaching dilemma - old tricks and techniques, or recent enhancements? - (2011-10-08)
  [3796] Backquote, backtic, str and repr in Python - conversion object to string - (2012-07-05)
  [3886] Formatting output - why we need to, and first Python example - (2012-10-09)
  [4027] Collections in Python - list tuple dict and string. - (2013-03-04)
  [4152] Why are bus fares so high? - (2013-08-18)
  [4213] Formatting options in Python - (2013-11-16)
  [4307] Identifying and clearing denial of service attacks on your Apache server - (2014-09-27)
  [4360] Python - comparison of old and new string formatters - (2014-12-22)
  [4593] Command line parameter handling in Python via the argparse module - (2015-12-08)
  [4595] Python formatting update - including named completions - (2015-12-10)
  [4659] Prining a pound sign from Python AND running from the command line at the same time - (2016-03-03)

T247 - Tcl/Tk - Advanced Regular Expressions
  [1305] Regular expressions made easy - building from components - (2007-08-16)
  [1336] Ignore case in Regular Expression - (2007-09-08)
  [1410] Tcl / regsub - changing a string and using interesting bits - (2007-10-27)
  [1412] Sparse and Greedy matching - Tcl 8.4 - (2007-10-27)
  [1613] Regular expression for 6 digits OR 25 digits - (2008-04-16)
  [4205] Regular Expression Substitution - Tcl - (2013-11-12)

T205 - Tcl/Tk - String Handling in Tcl
  [404] How to check that a string contains a number in Tcl - (2005-08-06)
  [779] The fragility of pancakes - and better structures - (2006-06-26)
  [1403] Square Bracket protection in Tcl - (2007-10-23)
  [1601] Replacing the last comma with an and - (2008-04-04)
  [2472] split and join in tcl and expect - (2009-10-23)
  [3192] Tcl - Some example of HOW TO in handling data files and formats - (2011-03-04)
  [3285] Extracting data from a string / line from file - Tcl - (2011-05-10)
  [3576] Tcl - apparently odd behaviour of string trimleft - (2012-01-13)
  [4454] Everything is a string - even a list - (2015-03-11)
  [4455] Working out distance between places, using OS grid references and a program in Tcl - (2015-03-11)

Q803 - Object Orientation and General technical topics - Regular Expressions - Extra Elements
  [1372] A taster PHP expression ... - (2007-09-30)
  [1735] Finding words and work boundaries (MySQL, Perl, PHP) - (2008-08-03)
  [1860] Seven new intermediate Perl examples - (2008-10-30)
  [2909] Be gentle rather than macho ... regular expression techniques - (2010-08-08)
  [3089] Python regular expressions - repeating, splitting, lookahead and lookbehind - (2010-12-17)
  [3100] Looking ahead and behind in Regular Expressions - double matching - (2010-12-23)
  [3516] Regular Expression modifiers in PHP - summary table - (2011-11-12)
  [3650] Possessive Regular Expression Matching - Perl, Objective C and some other languages - (2012-03-12)

P212 - Perl - More on Character Strings
  [453] Commenting Perl regular expressions - (2005-09-30)
  [583] Remember to process blank lines - (2006-01-31)
  [586] Perl Regular Expressions - finding the position and length of the match - (2006-02-02)
  [597] Storing a regular expression in a perl variable - (2006-02-09)
  [608] Don't expose your regular expressions - (2006-02-15)
  [737] Coloured text in a terminal from Perl - (2006-05-29)
  [928] C++ and Perl - why did they do it THAT way? - (2006-11-16)
  [1222] Perl, the substitute operator s - (2007-06-08)
  [1230] Commenting a Perl Regular Expression - (2007-06-12)
  [1251] Substitute operator / modifiers in Perl - (2007-06-28)
  [1510] Handling Binary data (.gif file example) in Perl - (2008-01-17)
  [1727] Equality and looks like tests - Perl - (2008-07-29)
  [1947] Perl substitute - the e modifier - (2008-12-16)
  [2230] Running a piece of code is like drinking a pint of beer - (2009-06-11)
  [2379] Making variables persistant, pretending a database is a variable and other Perl tricks - (2009-08-27)
  [2657] Want to do a big batch edit? Nothing beats Perl! - (2010-03-01)
  [2801] Binary data handling with unpack in Perl - (2010-06-10)
  [2834] Teaching examples in Perl - third and final part - (2010-06-27)
  [2874] Unpacking a Perl string into a list - (2010-07-16)
  [2877] Further more advanced Perl examples - (2010-07-19)
  [2993] Arrays v Lists - what is the difference, why use one or the other - (2010-10-10)
  [3059] Object Orientation in an hour and other Perl Lectures - (2010-11-18)
  [3322] How much has Perl (and other languages) changed? - (2011-06-10)
  [3332] DNA to Amino Acid - a sample Perl script - (2011-06-24)
  [3411] Single and double quotes strings in Perl - what is the difference? - (2011-08-30)
  [3546] The difference between dot (a.k.a. full stop, period) and comma in Perl - (2011-12-09)
  [3630] Serialsing and unserialising data for storage and transfer in Perl - (2012-02-28)
  [3707] Converting codons via Amino Acids to Proteins in Perl - (2012-04-25)
  [3927] First match or all matches? Perl Regular Expressions - (2012-11-19)
  [4452] Binary data handling - Python and Perl - (2015-03-09)


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