RegEx But With Words

regex-but-with-words is a lightweight Regular Expression visualization package with no user dependecies that allows users to chain a verbose function to create a Regular Expression. It can also be used to create a verbose version of an existing regular expression for reference.

Installing

npm i regex-but-with-words

Usage

Regex But With Words

const { RegexButWithWords } = require("regex-but-with-words");

let exp = new RegexButWithWords();

let phoneNumberExpression = exp
  .group(exp => exp.digit().literal("-"))
  .lazy()
  .digit(3)
  .literal("-")
  .digit(3)
  .literal("-")
  .digit(4)
  .done("g")

Returns the composed regular expression:

/(\d-)?\d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4}/g

Regex To Words

const { RegexToWords } = require("regex-but-with-words")
let wordifedEmailRegex = RegexToWords(/[A-z0-9][A-z0-9\-.]+[A-z0-9]@[\w\-]+\.\w+/g);

// Returns the following as a string

exp
  .set("A-z0-9")
  .set("A-z0-9-.")
  .oneOrMore()
  .set("A-z0-9")
  .literal("@")
  .set((exp) => {
    exp
      .word()
      .literal("-")
  })
  .oneOrMore()
  .literal(".")
  .word()
  .oneOrMore()
  .done("g")

---

Table of Contents

1. Installation
2. Expressions
   • Groups
   • Other Regex But With Words Methods
3. RegexToWords
4. Developer Dependencies
5. Code Test Coverage
6. Contributing

---

Installation

npm install regex-but-with-words

---

Expressions

Character and Quantifier Methods

The following methods can be used with the RegexButWithWords constructor. Each method can be chained with any method other than done()

Name	Matches	Regex
.word()*	Any letter A-z, digits 0-9, and underscores	\w
.notWord()*	Any character other than A-z, digits 0-9, and underscores	\W
.digit()*	digits 0-9	\d
.notWord()*	Any character other digits 0-9	\D
.any()*	Any character	.
.whitespace()*	Any whitespace character (spaces, tabs, newlines)	\s
.notWhitespace()*	Any non-whitespace character (spaces, tabs, newlines)	\S
.wordBoundary()	Position between word character and a non-word character	\b
.notWordBoundary()	Any character not between a word and a non-word character	\b
.tab() *	Tab character	\t
.newline() *	Newline character	\n
.literal() +	A string literal of the composed characters	native characters
.stringBegin()	The beginning of a string or line	^
.stringEnd()	The end of a string or line	$
.oneOrMore()	Matches one or more of the preceding function call (ex. .digit().oneOrMore() will match one or more digits)	+
.anyNumber()	Matches any number of the preceding function call including 0 (ex. .digit().anyNumber() will match 0 or more digits)	*
.lazy()	Matches 0 or one of the preceding function (ex. .word().lazy() will match 0 or 1 word character)	?
.or()	Logical or between two values (ex. .word().or().digit() will match one word or digit character)	`
.backslash() *	Matches a literal backslash, this function is here due to inconsitancies in string literal \ requiring an escape sequence	\\

Methods marked with a * can accept up to two parameters min, and max.

• If only min is provided, it will match exactly that number of the preceding call
  • (ex. .word(4) will match exactly 4 word characters. Regex equivilant is \w{4})
• If min and max are provided it will match any number of tokens within a range
  • (ex. .word(4,6) will match four, five, or 6 word characters. Regex equivilant is \w{4,6})
• the string "*" can be passed as max to match any number of the preceding token after the minimum is met
  • (ex. .word(4, "*" will match four or more word characters. Regex equivilant is \w{4,})
• Methods marked with a + can accept the above parameters, but only if a single character is provided

---

Groups

Capturing groups. Each method can be chained with any method other than done()

Name	Matches	Regex
.group(regexGroup)	A group of characters. .group("abc") will match abc anywhere in a string	()
.nonCapturingGroup(regexGroup)	Match a group of characters without capturing .nonCapturingGroup("abc").word() will match a word character preceded by abc	(?:)
.set(regexGroup)	Match any one character from a set. [abc] will match a b or c	[]
.negatedSet(regexGroup)	Match any one character not in a set. [^abc] will match any character that is not a b or c	[^]

Groups now support min and max quantifiers.

Group Callback Functions

Groups can accept two types of arguments: string and subExpressionCallback. subExpressionCallback returns a RegexButWithWords object to allow for chaining inside a group:

exp
  .group(exp => {
    exp.whitespace().or().literal("space")
  })
  .done("g")

// Matches

/(\s|space)/g

exp.group("\sfrog\s").done("g")

// Matches
/(\sfrog\s)/g

Groups can also be quantified by passing in a min value or a min and max value:

exp
  .group(exp => {
    exp.whitespace().or().literal("space")
  }, 2)
  .done("g")

// Matches

/(\s|space){2}/g

exp.group("\sfrog\s", 2, 3).done("g")

// Matches
/(\sfrog\s){2,3}/g

---

Look Around

Non-capturing lookaround groups. Each method can be chained with any method other than done()

Name	Matches	Regex
look.ahead(regexGroup)	A group after the expression without including the result	(?=)
look.behind(regexGroup)	A group before the expression without including the result	(?:)
negativeLook.ahead(regexGroup)	A group that cannot match after the main expression	(?!=)

Non-capturing Group Callback Functions

Look around can accept two types of arguments: string and subExpressionCallback. subExpressionCallback returns a RegexButWithWords object to allow for chaining inside a group:

exp
  .look
  .behind(exp => {
    exp.stringBegin().group("behind")
  })
  .literal("matching")
  .look
  .ahead(exp => {
    exp.group("ahead").stringEnd()
  })
  .done("g")

// Matches

/(?:^behind)matching(?=ahead$)/g

exp
  .look
  .behind("egg")
  .literal("plant")
  .done("g")

// Matches

/(?:egg)plant/g

Lookaround groups can also be quantified by passing in a min value or a min and max value:

exp
  .litral("hello")
  .look
  .ahead(exp => {
    exp.literal("frog")
  }, 2, 3)
  .done("g)

// matches

/(hello(?=frog){2,3})/g

---

Other Regex But With Words Methods

Name	Usage
.done(flags)	Terminates a regex but with words chain and returns the resulting regex with flags. ("g" is used for global and "i" for ignore case)

---

RegexToWords

This module also includes a function that allows the creation of valid RegexButWithWords function chain from existing Regular Expressions as a string. This allows for experienced users to store regular expressions in a readable format.

Example Usage

const { RegexToWords } = require("regex-but-with-words")

let wordifedRegex = RegexToWords(/^--?[a-z-]+\s\S+(\s--?[a-z-]+\s\S+)*$/g);

// Returns the following as a string

exp
  .stringBegin()
  .literal("-")
  .literal("-")
  .lazy()
  .set("a-z-")
  .oneOrMore()
  .whitespace()
  .notWhitespace()
  .oneOrMore()
  .group((exp) => { 
    exp
      .whitespace()
      .literal("-")
      .literal("-")
      .lazy()
      .set("a-z-")
      .oneOrMore()
      .whitespace()
      .notWhitespace()
      .oneOrMore() 
  })
  .anyNumber()
  .stringEnd()
  .done("g")

---

Developer Dependencies

• nyc
• mocha
• chai

---

Automated Testing

This module uses mocha and chai to run automated tests.

To run the unit tests, use the command

npm run test

Code Test Coverage

This module uses nyc for unit test coverage.

To get test coverage, run the command

npm run coverage

Current Test Coverage

File	% Stmts	% Branch	% Funcs	% Lines	Uncovered Line #s
All files	100	100	100	100	🏆
expressions.js	100	100	100	100	🏆
utils.js	100	100	100	100	🏆
verbose.js	100	100	100	100	🏆

---

Bugs

• A detailed title describing the issue beginning with [BUG] and the current release. For sprint one, filing a bug would have the title [BUG][0.1.0] <issue title>
• Steps to recreate said bug (including non-sensitive variables)
• (optional) Corresponding output logs as text or as part of a code block
• Tag the issue with the bug label

---

Contributing

If you have any questions or issues you can create a new [issue here][issues]. See the full contribution guidelines here.

This repo uses Prettier JS for formatting. We recommend using the VS Code extension.

Pull requests are very welcome! Make sure your patches are well tested. Ideally create a topic branch for every separate change you make. For example:

1. Fork the repo
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Added some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create new Pull Request