A Beginner's Guide to Using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey—Exploring the Mysteries of RegEx: Create Practical AutoHotkey Tools for Windows XP, Windows ... 10 (AutoHotkey Tips and Tricks Book 5)
Book Details
Author(s)Jack Dunning
PublisherComputorEdge E-Books
ISBN / ASINB00ZFUJ27C
ISBN-13978B00ZFUJ279
Sales Rank491,443
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
Updated April 27, 2017! AutoHotkey is a powerful scripting language for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10. If you don't already use AutoHotkey with your Windows PC, then you should start. The language is simple, yet powerful. Best of all, it's free!
This "Beginner's Guide to Using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" is not a beginning level AutoHotkey book, but an introduction to using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey (or most other programming languages). To get the most from this book you should already have a basic understanding of AutoHotkey (or another programming language). Regular Expressions (RegEx) are a powerful way to search and alter documents without the limitations of most standard matching functions. You could say that RegEx is like a standard Search and Replace on steroids.
At first, the use of RegEx might seem confusing and mysterious. This book clears up the confusion with easy analogies for understanding how RegEx works and examples of practical AutoHotkey applications. "Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" takes you to the next level in AutoHotkey scripting while adding more flexibility and power to your Windows apps.
Not a beginning level AutoHotkey script writing topic, you'll find nothing "regular" about Regular Expressions (commonly called RegEx or RegExp). Jack spent a good bit of time exploring these programming tools and has developed a healthy respect for RegEx's flexibility and power. In the past, many people (including Jack) avoided using RegEx due to its enigmatic code which at times appears almost incomprehensible. It's not like normal program code with If-Then-Else statements and Loops. Writing a RegEx is not merely a matter of following a logical sequence. It often requires a non-linear look at the problem. Jack finds that what helps most is the RegEx analogy he pictures in his brain pan and offers to readers in the book. That image gives the basis for how RegEx works. Unlike the usual programming which either works or doesn't work, RegEx looks for varied pattern matches. If found, RegEx goes to work. If none are found, it moves on.
The chapters in this book are grouped by their role in developing a deeper understanding of Regular Expressions while emphasizing the practical application of RegExMatch() and RegExReplace() the two primary AutoHotkey Regular Expressions functions.
The first three chapters are the most important for getting a quick start on how to view and understand Regular Expressions and the AutoHotkey RegEx functions, while the remaining chapters may be studied in almost any order as they each demonstrate one or more practical RegEx applications e.g. finding double words in text (Chapter Five); fixing mistyped word contractions (Chapter Six); swapping two word in any text editing (Chapter Seven); extracting IP addresses from text, then extracting the geographic location of each from the Web (Chapter Eight); stripping HTML tags from source code leaving only pure text (Chapter Nine); extracting links from a Web page and saving them to a text file (Chapter Ten); and validating e-mail addresses (Chapter Eleven). The final two chapters address the slightly more advanced, but important topics, look-ahead and look-behind assertions, plus RegEx Properties p.
Although Regular Expression can be mind-bending, Jack's simple approach clears up the confusion. However, if you're a novice AutoHotkey script writer, you may be better served by starting with a beginning AutoHotkey book or tutorial. If you're a more experienced programmer, then "Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" may act as a reference for how and when to use them in your AutoHotkey applications.
This "Beginner's Guide to Using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" is not a beginning level AutoHotkey book, but an introduction to using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey (or most other programming languages). To get the most from this book you should already have a basic understanding of AutoHotkey (or another programming language). Regular Expressions (RegEx) are a powerful way to search and alter documents without the limitations of most standard matching functions. You could say that RegEx is like a standard Search and Replace on steroids.
At first, the use of RegEx might seem confusing and mysterious. This book clears up the confusion with easy analogies for understanding how RegEx works and examples of practical AutoHotkey applications. "Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" takes you to the next level in AutoHotkey scripting while adding more flexibility and power to your Windows apps.
Not a beginning level AutoHotkey script writing topic, you'll find nothing "regular" about Regular Expressions (commonly called RegEx or RegExp). Jack spent a good bit of time exploring these programming tools and has developed a healthy respect for RegEx's flexibility and power. In the past, many people (including Jack) avoided using RegEx due to its enigmatic code which at times appears almost incomprehensible. It's not like normal program code with If-Then-Else statements and Loops. Writing a RegEx is not merely a matter of following a logical sequence. It often requires a non-linear look at the problem. Jack finds that what helps most is the RegEx analogy he pictures in his brain pan and offers to readers in the book. That image gives the basis for how RegEx works. Unlike the usual programming which either works or doesn't work, RegEx looks for varied pattern matches. If found, RegEx goes to work. If none are found, it moves on.
The chapters in this book are grouped by their role in developing a deeper understanding of Regular Expressions while emphasizing the practical application of RegExMatch() and RegExReplace() the two primary AutoHotkey Regular Expressions functions.
The first three chapters are the most important for getting a quick start on how to view and understand Regular Expressions and the AutoHotkey RegEx functions, while the remaining chapters may be studied in almost any order as they each demonstrate one or more practical RegEx applications e.g. finding double words in text (Chapter Five); fixing mistyped word contractions (Chapter Six); swapping two word in any text editing (Chapter Seven); extracting IP addresses from text, then extracting the geographic location of each from the Web (Chapter Eight); stripping HTML tags from source code leaving only pure text (Chapter Nine); extracting links from a Web page and saving them to a text file (Chapter Ten); and validating e-mail addresses (Chapter Eleven). The final two chapters address the slightly more advanced, but important topics, look-ahead and look-behind assertions, plus RegEx Properties p.
Although Regular Expression can be mind-bending, Jack's simple approach clears up the confusion. However, if you're a novice AutoHotkey script writer, you may be better served by starting with a beginning AutoHotkey book or tutorial. If you're a more experienced programmer, then "Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey" may act as a reference for how and when to use them in your AutoHotkey applications.
More Books by Jack Dunning
