Regex builder library

Usage

Basic usage:

You can either create a new object to start to regex:

RegX regx = new RegX();
regx.anyChar().anyTimes();

or you can just simply import the static method regx() and start to regex right away:

static import com.gmanjon.regx.RegX.regx;
...
regx().anyChar().anyTimes();

• Create a regular expression meaning "any a followed by an even number of b's"

Regular Expression: a*(bb)*
RegX Syntax:

String regx = regx().literal("a").anyTimes().followedBy(regx().literalGroup("bb").anyTimes()).toString();

• Create a regular expression for validating emails (may be could be more accurate to mail specifications, but will do for example pourpuses)

Regular Expression: [a-zA-Z](\.?\w+)*@(\w+)*\.[a-zA-Z]{2,5}
RegX Syntax:

RegX startAccountName = regx().alphabeticChar();
RegX continueAccountName = regx().literal('.').optional().anyWord().group().anyTimes();
RegX at = regx().literal('@');
RegX domain = regx().anyWord().group().anyTimes().literal('.').alphabeticChar(2, 5);
String regx = startAccountName.followedBy(continueAccountName).followedBy(at).followedBy(domain).toString();

Java 7 Pattern Support

All examples assume the RegX object is already created in a variables called r, either via static method or constructor.

🔴 Not yet supported. Be patient, it will be.

Characters

Construct	Matches	Example
x	The character x	r.literal('x')
\\	The backslash character	r.literal('\\')
\0n	The character with octal value 0n (0 <= n <= 7)	r.literal(0n)
\0nn	The character with octal value 0nn (0 <= n <= 7)	r.literal(0nn)
\0mnn	The character with octal value 0mnn (0 <= m <= 3, 0 <= n <= 7)	r.literal(0mnn)
\xhh	The character with hexadecimal value 0xhh	r.literal(0xhh)
\uhhhh	The character with hexadecimal value 0xhhhh	r.literal(0xhhhh)
\x{h...h}	The character with hexadecimal value 0xh...h (Character.MIN_CODE_POINT <= 0xh...h <= Character.MAX_CODE_POINT)	r.literal(0xh...h)
\t	The tab character ('\u0009')	r.literal('\t')
\n	The newline (line feed) character ('\u000A')	r.literal('\n')
\r	The carriage-return character ('\u000D')	r.literal('\r')
\f	The form-feed character ('\u000C')	r.literal('\f')
\a	The alert (bell) character ('\u0007')	r.literal(0x0007) or r.regex("\a")
\e	The escape character ('\u001B')	r.literal(0x001B) or r.regex("\e")
\cx	The control character corresponding to x	r.literal('\x')

Character classes

Construct	Matches	Example
[abc]	a, b, or c (simple class)	r.oneOf("abc")
[^abc]	Any character except a, b, or c (negation)	r.noneOf("abc")
[a-zA-Z]	a through z or A through Z, inclusive (range)	r.range('a','z','A,'Z')
[a-d[m-p]]	a through d, or m through p: [a-dm-p] (union)	r.range('a','d','m','p')
[a-z&&[def]]	d, e, or f (intersection)	r.range('a','z').intersectOneOf("def")
[a-z&&[^bc]]	a through z, except for b and c: [ad-z] (subtraction)	r.range('a','z').intersectNoneOf("bc")
[a-z&&[^m-p]]	a through z, and not m through p: [a-lq-z](subtraction)	r.range('a','z').intersectExclude('m','p')

Predefined character classes

Construct	Matches	Example
.	Any character (may or may not match line terminators)	r.anyChar()
\d	A digit: [0-9]	r.digit()
\D	A non-digit: [^0-9]	r.nonDigit()
\s	A whitespace character: [ \t\n\x0B\f\r]
\S	A non-whitespace character: [^\s]
\w	A word character: [a-zA-Z_0-9]
\W	A non-word character: [^\w]

POSIX character classes (US-ASCII only)

Construct	Matches	Example
\p{Lower}	A lower-case alphabetic character: [a-z]	🔴
\p{Upper}	An upper-case alphabetic character:[A-Z]	🔴
\p{ASCII}	All ASCII:[\x00-\x7F]	🔴
\p{Alpha}	An alphabetic character:[\p{Lower}\p{Upper}]	🔴
\p{Digit}	A decimal digit: [0-9]	🔴
\p{Alnum}	An alphanumeric character:[\p{Alpha}\p{Digit}]	🔴
\p{Punct}	Punctuation: One of !"###$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~	🔴
\p{Graph}	A visible character: [\p{Alnum}\p{Punct}]	🔴
\p{Print}	A printable character: [\p{Graph}\x20]	🔴
\p{Blank}	A space or a tab: [ \t]	🔴
\p{Cntrl}	A control character: [\x00-\x1F\x7F]	🔴
\p{XDigit}	A hexadecimal digit: [0-9a-fA-F]	🔴
\p{Space}	A whitespace character: [ \t\n\x0B\f\r]	🔴

java.lang.Character classes (simple java character type)

Construct	Matches	Example
\p{javaLowerCase}	Equivalent to java.lang.Character.isLowerCase()	🔴
\p{javaUpperCase}	Equivalent to java.lang.Character.isUpperCase()	🔴
\p{javaWhitespace}	Equivalent to java.lang.Character.isWhitespace()	🔴
\p{javaMirrored}	Equivalent to java.lang.Character.isMirrored()	🔴

Classes for Unicode scripts, blocks, categories and binary properties

Construct	Matches	Example
\p{IsLatin}	A Latin script character (script)	🔴
\p{InGreek}	A character in the Greek block (block)	🔴
\p{Lu}	An uppercase letter (category)	🔴
\p{IsAlphabetic}	An alphabetic character (binary property)	🔴
\p{Sc}	A currency symbol	🔴
\P{InGreek}	Any character except one in the Greek block (negation)	🔴
[\p{L}&&[^\p{Lu}]]	Any letter except an uppercase letter (subtraction)	🔴

Boundary matchers

Construct	Matches	Example
^	The beginning of a line	r.startOfLine()
$	The end of a line	r.endOfLine()
\b	A word boundary
\B	A non-word boundary
\A	The beginning of the input
\G	The end of the previous match
\Z	The end of the input but for the final terminator, if any
\z	The end of the input

Greedy quantifiers

Construct	Matches	Example
X?	X, once or not at all	r.literal('X').optional()
X*	X, zero or more times	r.literal('X').anyTimes()
X+	X, one or more times	r.literal('X').oneOrMoreTimes()
X{n}	X, exactly n times	r.literal('X').times(n)
X{n,}	X, at least n times	r.literal('X').times(n, -1)
X{n,m}	X, at least n but not more than m times	r.literal('X').times(n, m)

Reluctant quantifiers

Construct	Matches	Example
X??	X, once or not at all	r.literal('X').optional()
X*?	X, zero or more times	r.literal('X').anyTimesLazy()
X+?	X, one or more times	r.literal('X').oneOrMoreTimesLazy()
X{n}?	X, exactly n times	r.literal('X').times(n)
X{n,}?	X, at least n times
X{n,m}?	X, at least n but not more than m times

Possessive quantifiers

Construct	Matches	Example
X?+	X, once or not at all
X*+	X, zero or more times
X++	X, one or more times
X{n}+	X, exactly n times
X{n,}+	X, at least n times
X{n,m}+	X, at least n but not more than m times

Logical operators

Construct	Matches	Example
XY	X followed by Y
X|Y	Either X or Y
(X)	X, as a capturing group

Back references

Construct	Matches	Example
\n	Whatever the nth capturing group matched
\k	Whatever the named-capturing group "name" matched

Quotation

Construct	Matches	Example
\	Nothing, but quotes the following character
\Q	Nothing, but quotes all characters until \E
\E	Nothing, but ends quoting started by \Q

Special constructs (named-capturing and non-capturing)

Construct	Matches	Example
(?X)	X, as a named-capturing group
(?:X)	X, as a non-capturing group
(?idmsuxU-idmsuxU)	Nothing, but turns match flags i d m s u x U on - off
(?idmsux-idmsux:X)	X, as a non-capturing group with the given flags i d m s u x on - off
(?=X)	X, via zero-width positive lookahead
(?!X)	X, via zero-width negative lookahead
(?<=X)	X, via zero-width positive lookbehind
(?	X, via zero-width negative lookbehind
(?>X)	X, as an independent, non-capturing group