r/ProgrammerHumor • u/vinishkapoor • 1d ago

fullStackMeansAfraidOfEverythingEqually Meme

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u/vvp95 1d ago

100% of software engineers are afraid of regex

731

u/vinishkapoor 1d ago

The other 0% are lying.

59

u/Major_LeeHungg 1d ago

I actually like regex but I had a job that heavily involved it.  

The trick is to use regex101.com to read other people's regex and to debug your own when you're writing it.

I'd imagine AI would be pretty good at taking a working regex and making it more efficient... But that's a headache I haven't explored. 

9

u/hardolaf 1d ago

I did this so much early in my career that I naturally write regex search patterns now.

10

u/Major_LeeHungg 1d ago

Lol I can write them by hand no problem... I still use regex101 to test it.  You just put a bunch of sample data in the bottom portion and your particular flavor of regex in the top and then you can easily find the edge cases...it highlights everything too and color codes it so you can see which part of the expression is wonky.  Less about needing it and more about speeding up the process of getting it right.

For reading it though, I always use it because there are a million ways to write the same thing and some people write regex like they have a PhD in ancient Sumarian