T-Regx | Regular Expressions library

PHP regular expressions brought up to modern standards.

See documentation at t-regx.com.

1. Installation
   • Composer
2. Examples
3. Documentation
4. T-Regx fiddle - Try online
5. API
   1. For standard projects -pattern()
   2. For legacy projects - preg::match_all()
6. Overview
   1. Prepared patterns
   2. Working with the developer
   3. Clean API
   4. Fatal errors
   5. Clean Code
   6. Exceptions vs. errors
7. Comparison
   1. Exceptions over warnings/errors
   2. Working with the developer
   3. Written with clean API in mind
   4. Philosophy of Uncle Bob and "Clean Code"
8. Plans for the future
9. Sponsors
10. License

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Installation

Installation for PHP 7.1 and later (PHP 8 as well):

composer require rawr/t-regx

T-Regx only requires mb-string extension. No additional dependencies or extensions are required.

Examples

Illustration of methods match(), test() and count().

$pattern = Pattern::of("ups"); // pattern("ups") also works
$matcher = $pattern->match('yay, ups');

foreach ($matcher as $detail) {
    $detail->text();    // (string) "ups";
    $detail->offset();  // (int) 0
}

if (!$matcher->test()) {
    echo "No occurrances found";
} else {
    echo "Found {$matcher->count()} occurrences";
}

Documentation

Full API documentation is available at t-regx.com. List of changes is available in ChangeLog.md.

Quick links:

• Introduction - https://t-regx.com/docs/introduction
  • Matching overview - https://t-regx.com/docs/match
  • Replacing - https://t-regx.com/docs/replace
  • Splitting - https://t-regx.com/docs/split
• Prepared patterns - https://t-regx.com/docs/prepared-patterns
  • Template syntax - https://t-regx.com/docs/template-syntax
  • Pattern list - https://t-regx.com/docs/pattern-list

Try it online, in your browser!

Open T-Regx fiddle and start playing around right in your browser. Try now!

API

Choose the interface:

• I choose the modern regex API:

  Scroll to see - pattern()->test(), pattern()->match(), pattern()->replace()

• I choose to keep PHP methods (but protected from errors/warnings):

  Scroll to see - preg::match_all(), preg::replace_callback(), preg::split()

For standard projects, we suggest pattern(). For legacy projects, we suggest preg::match_all().

• Standard T-Regx

  $pattern = Pattern::of("ups"); // pattern("ups") also works
  $matcher = $pattern->match('yay, ups');
  
  if (!$matcher->test()) {
  echo "Unmatched subject :/";
  }
  
  foreach ($matcher as $detail) {
  $detail->text();    // (string) "ups";
  $detail->offset();  // (int) 0
  }
  
  $pattern->replace('well, ups')->with('heck') // (string) "well, heck";

• Legacy API

  try {
    preg::match_all('/?ups/', 'ups', $match, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
    echo $match[0][0];
  } catch (\TRegx\Exception\MalformedPatternException $exception) {
    echo "Invalid pattern";
  }

Why T-Regx stands out?

:bulb: See documentation at t-regx.com

• Prepared patterns

  Using user data isn't always safe with PCRE (even with preg_quote()), as well as just not being that convenient to use. T-Regx provides dedicated solution for building patterns with unsafe user input. Choose Pattern::inject() for simply including user data as literals. Use Pattern::mask() to convert user-supplied masks into full-fledged patterns, safely. Use Pattern::template() for constructing more complex patterns.

  function makePattern($name): Pattern {
  if ($name === null) {
    return Pattern::of("name[:=]empty");
  }
  return Pattern::inject("name[:=]@;", [$name]); // inject $name as @
  }
  
  $gibberish = "(my?name)";
  $pattern = makePattern($gibberish);
  
  $pattern->test('name=(my?name)'); // (bool) true

• Working with the developer

  • Simple methods
    • T-Regx exposes functionality by simple methods, which return int, string, string[] or bool, which aren't nullable. If you wish to do something with your match or pattern, there's probably a method for that, which does exactly and only that.
  • Strings:
    • Fixing error with multibyte offset (utf-8 safe).
    • Separate methods for positions:
      • offset() - which returns position of a match in characters in UTF-8
      • byteOffset() - which returns position of a match in bytes, regardless of encoding

  • Groups:

    • When using preg::match_all(), we receive an array, of arrays, of arrays. In contrast, T-Regx returns an array of groups: Group[]. Object Group contains all the information about the group.

    • Group errors:

      • When invalid group named is used get('!@#'), T-Regx throws \InvalidArgumentException.
      • When attempt to read a missing group, T-Regx throws NonexistentGroupException.
      • When reading a group that happens not to be matched, T-Regx throws GroupNotMatchedException.

• Written with clean API

  • Descriptive, simple interface
  • Unicode support out-of-the-box
  • No Reflection used, No (...varargs), No (boolean arguments, true), (No flags, 1), [No [nested, [arrays]]]
  • Inconsistencies between PHP versions are eliminated in T-Regx

• Protects you from fatal errors

  Certain arguments cause fatal errors with preg_() methods, which terminate the application and can't be caught. T-Regx will predict if given argument would cause a fatal error, and will throw a catchable exception instead.

• T-Regx follows the philosophy of Uncle Bob and "Clean Code"

  Function should do one thing, it should do it well. A function should do exactly what you expect it to do.

• Compatible with other tools and libraries

  Granted, Pattern::of() accepts undelimited pattern ((Foo){3,4}}) is not suitable with other PHP libraries, which work with delimited patterns (/(Foo){3,4}/), for example Laravel and Routing. For that case, use PcrePattern::of() which accepts plain-old standard PHP syntax.

• Exceptions over warnings/errors

  • Unlike PHP methods, T-Regx doesn't use warnings/notices/errors for unexpected inputs:

    try {
    preg::match_all('/([a3]+[a3]+)+3/', 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 3');
    } catch (\TRegx\SafeRegex\Exception\CatastrophicBacktrackingException $exception) {
    // caught
    }

  • Detects malformed patterns in and throws MalformedPatternException. This is impossible to catch with preg_last_error().

    try {
    preg::match('/?ups/', 'ups');
    } catch (\TRegx\Exception\MalformedPatternException $exception) {
    // caught
    }

  • Not every error in PHP can be read from preg_last_error(), however T-Regx throws dedicated exceptions for those events.

Comparison

or

Current work in progress

Current development priorities, regarding release of 1.0:

• Separate SafeRegex and CleanRegex into to two packages, so users can choose what they need #103
• Add documentation to each T-Regx public method #17 [in progress]
• Revamp of t-regx.com documentation [in progress]
• Release 1.0

Sponsors

• Andreas Leathley - developing SquirrelPHP
• BarxizePL - Thanks!

T-Regx is developed thanks to

License

T-Regx is MIT licensed.