Ben Forta's Blog - Regular Expressions

Andy Trice On PhoneGap And Apple Rejections

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 18:37:00 -0400

Andy Trice has written a great ADC article highlighting PhoneGap advice on dealing with Apple application rejections. This one is recommended reading.

Regular Expression Book In Korean

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:09:00 -0400

The Korean edition of my Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions was published a while ago, but my copies just arrived today, and thus this post. I've been writing since the mid 90s, and have dozens of translations neatly organized on my shelves. But, it's still quite a thrill every time I get my hands on a new translation. And this Korean translation is no exception. The book is beautiful and of particularly high quality, the printing is crisp and clear, the paper is a high-end off-white that is highly readable, the text shading I use to highlight matches in the Regular Expression examples was implemented really well, there is a nice pull out reference card in the back ... as I said, just beautiful. Any Korean readers out there? I'd love to hear what you think of this one.

Regular Expressions Book In Korean

Mon, 31 May 2010 23:57:00 -0400

My Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes is now available in Korean. Thanks to Jaehoon Jung for sending me the URL. Here's the full list of translations of all of my books.

For Now, Avoid Kindle Version of My RegEx Book

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:12:00 -0400

My Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes has proven to be a very popular book, and tens of thousands of developers have used it to get started with Regular Expressions. The book teaches RegEx incrementally, and for each example a block of text is used, and matching text is shaded to clearly demonstrate what the Regular Expression is doing. Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes has apparently now been released for the Amazon Kindle. I've not seen the Kindle version yet (as I don't have a Kindle yet), but readers are reporting to me that the Kindle version is missing the shading, making all of the examples rather useless! I've contacted the publisher about this problem, and hope they'll correct it quickly. But for now, I suggest you avoid the Kindle version of the book, and stick with the print version.

Remus Stratulat's Flex Regular Expression Tester

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:31:00 -0400

Remus Stratulat has posted the source code for a simple Flex Regular Expression tester. If you need to use Regular Expressions in ActionScript code, this can get you started quickly.

Check Out Ryan Swanson's Flex RegEx Explorer

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:58:00 -0400

Ryan Swanson has created a really nice Flex 3 Regular Expression Explorer, and he explains his creation here.

CFINPUT Integer Validation Flaw

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:24:00 -0400

As per this TechNote, <CFINPUT validate="integer"> allows the dollar symbol ($) to bypass generated client side validation. I don't know how long this has been the case, but the solution (as noted in the TechNote) is to use a regular expression instead.

SQL And Regular Expression Books Published In Chinese

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:01:00 -0400

My Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes and Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions In 10 Minutes have both been published in Chinese by Turing Book. Links are on the books pages. And here is a full list of all book translations.

Scorpio Adds Two New RegEx Functions

Fri, 04 May 2007 12:49:00 -0400

ColdFusion has supported Regular Expressions for a while, but I've always missed a REMatch() function, one that would locate all matches and return them. Over the years several of us have written our own functions to do this, but that's no longer needed - REMatch() and REMatchNoCase() are both in Scorpio.

SQL And Regular Expression Books Now In Russian

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 17:08:32 -0400

I now have books available in Russian! Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (3rd edition) and Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes have both just been released in Russian by Williams Publishing. Links to the new Russian editions are on the book pages. The full list of non-English editions of my books (15 different languages to date) has also been updated.

TechBookReport Review: RegEx Book Is "A Pretty Good Place to Start"

Wed, 05 May 2004 09:41:18 -0400

TechBookReport has reviewed my "Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions In 10 Minutes", giving it a verdict of "A pretty good introduction", and concluding that "the book provides a painless way into regular expressions. It takes a simple approach and keeps focused on showing how to get the job done. If you're already a regex regular then the chances are that there's not much new here for you, but if you're just starting out then this is a pretty good place to start." The full review is at http://www.techbookreport.com/tbr0079.html, and the book page is http://www.forta.com/books/0672325667/. Thanks to Pan Pantziarka for bringing this to my attention.

The Register Declares My SQL Book the "Gold Standard"

Tue, 04 May 2004 10:01:26 -0400

This is quite the compliment. UK IT Magazine, The Register, has proclaimed that my "Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes has established itself as the gold standard for introductory SQL books", and is recommending both that book and my new "Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes". Story at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/04/10_minutes_for_a_new_skill/. Thanks to Dan Alig for bringing this to my attention. (FYI, links to both books are at http://www.forta.com/books/).

RegEx Book Makes The Register

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 15:29:00 -0400

U.K. IT online magazine, The Register, briefly reviewed (and discounted) my new "Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes" at http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/31/36664.html (book info at http://www.forta.com/books/0672325667/). Thanks to Lucas Sherwood for letting me know about this one.

RegEx Book Back in Stock at Amazon.com

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 11:56:10 -0400

Several of you wrote to tell me that you tried to buy my new "Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes" (see http://www.forta.com/books/0672325667/) from Amazon.com, only to be told that it was backordered. Indeed, Amazon.com ran out of their entire stock within a day (which is why the status changed from "Usually ships within 24 hours" to "Usually ships within 2 to 3 days"). Thankfully, Amazon.com has replenished their stock already. I apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your continued support.

RegEx Book Errata :-(

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 09:26:32 -0400

It had to happen, several readers have found typos in my new "Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes", and so the errata is now online (link at the bottom of http://www.forta.com/books/0672325667/.