in reply to Regular expression to English translation

Perhaps japhy's YAPE::Regex::Explain is what you're after e.g 
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;

print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/this.*(?:that)?(?!another)/)
      ->explain;

__output__

The regular expression:

(?-imsx:this.*(?:that)?(?!another))

matches as follows:
  
NODE                     EXPLANATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(?-imsx:                 group, but do not capture (case-sensitive)
                         (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not
                         matching \n) (matching whitespace and #
                         normally):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  this                     'this'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  .*                       any character except \n (0 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (?:                      group, but do not capture (optional
                           (matching the most amount possible)):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    that                     'that'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )?                       end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (?!                      look ahead to see if there is not:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    another                  'another'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of look-ahead
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[download]
HTH

_________
broquaint

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Regular expression to English translation
by Wassercrats (Initiate) on Nov 27, 2003 at 12:33 UTC
    My fear is that that's the best that could be done. I haven't completely thought through how practical what I want is, but I would need something more like a list of expressions that match with no reference to regex code.
[reply]
      Then the likes of Parse::RandGen are probably worth looking at. Here's some sample usage 
      use Parse::RandGen;

my $p = Parse::RandGen::Regexp->new(qr/a(b|c)d?/);

print $p->pick for 1 ..5

__output__

abd
ab
ac
acd
abd

      [download]
      HTH

      _________
      broquaint

[reply]
[d/l]
        That looks promising! Unfortunately, that particular Parse:: module isn't available on my web host's server, and it looks like ActivePerl doesn't come with any Parse:: modules. I might be able to get it installed on one or the other though. I'll take a closer look when I get a chance and am fully awake. Thanks
[reply]
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