Oracle 10g incorporating "Perl-influenced regular expressions"

I searched around perlmonks and was amazined to not have seen any mention about Oracle 10g having added regular expressions from Perl.

More information is at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/appdev.102/b14251/adfns_regexp.htm

My last job was heavy ETL programming. I never gave up the Perl front-end for the ETL -- heck, I used more Perl than Cognos even though the boss frowned me right out the door... his loss!

But back to Oracle -- Having the option to REGEXP_REPLACE contents of the database was quite nice when a new 'cleanup' rule was discovered in our ETL shakedown. In many cases, I could run the search/replace regular expression straight out of my Perl code against the live Oracle tables.

And now that Oracle "gives away" this database even for commercial redistribution "for free" its something other monks could experiment with.

Another minor example is COGNOS/IBM Framework Manager 8 application allows one to use "Perl Regular Expressions Syntax" when searching for objects. Alas, though, no support within the actual objects, though....

This was an exciting addition to Oracle in my mind. I thought I'd throw up a node for other monks to ponder and comment on how Perl regular expresssions are influencing commercial software. Or maybe belatedly comment on Oracle jumping on the "Perl does it better" bandwagon.

spectre#9 -- "Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity." -- Shunryu Suzuki

Comment on Oracle 10g incorporating "Perl-influenced regular expressions"

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Re: Oracle 10g incorporating "Perl-influenced regular expressions" by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Mar 24, 2009 at 13:49 UTC
spectre9, Oracle 10g was released in 2003 (6 years ago). Additionally, Oracle didn't add "regular expressions from Perl" as you indicate. They borrowed some character classes, quantifiers and modifieres. In other words, no assertions and other doodads. I am not trying to diminish from Oracle adding regular expression support (including some borrowed perl syntax) - I am just trying to put it in perspective. Update: Regarding your meditation (perl influencing regular expressions) - For years, perl has lead the way. Even with the perpetuated fugly syntax and moving to NFA, the world has recognized the benefits. It isn't entirely uncommon for software to provide regex support by linking against PCRE. The real meditation in mind though is that, with Perl 6, we will be shattering the mold and blazing a new trail for others to follow. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^2: Oracle 10g incorporating "Perl-influenced regular expressions" by xiaoyafeng (Deacon) on Mar 24, 2009 at 15:38 UTC
Oracle indeed borrow some regex syntax of perl. However it's not handy. I prefer to retrieve data to perl then regex it. I am trying to improve my English skills, if you see a mistake please feel free to reply or /msg me a correction	[reply]


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