IDEA: Reverse Regex Generator

[mouser]

I'm not 100% sure the existing regex helper tools don't do this, and i suspect this may not be at all simple, but i'd love to see a little utilitity that could take a regular expression and generates some random test strings that match it.  It would be extremely useful i think.

Anyone know of such a tool or want to give it a try?

[tinjaw]

Hmm, that sounds like a really good way to get a handle on regular expressions. What better way to learn then to code them? Hmm.

[Tinjaw checks his schedule and ToDo list]

Hmm

[Ruffnekk]

Wow nice idea! I wonder if it's feasible though... *crunch crunch*

[Dr-Leech]

Nice idea. It's a pretty nice way to learn and play with RegExp. I always thought about something like it when creating a pattern

[cthorpe]

I would love something like that.  I've always had a hard time getting my head around regexp.  I use them when necessary, but I always have to look at example after example and attempt to cobble a usable expression out of them.  Definately takes much longer than it should.  The problem is, when I try one that doesn't work as expected, I don't always know why.  If I had a way to see what the "wrong" expression returned, it would be easier to learn from my mistakes.

And if I could learn regexp...

IDEA: Reverse Regex Generator

[f0dder]

<>.

I wonder how feasible the project is, though - RegExes are a pretty complicated thing to do right, and generating match-text? Ugh. Alternations, greedy vs. non-greedy asterisks, et cetera.

The Regulator has been pretty useful for me when dealing with regular expressions - in combination with Mastering Regular Expressions.