Figuring out how to implement a design in (cencered), I found the System.Text.RegularExpressions type in the .NET library that offers "full regular expression support". Upon (eventually) finding the regex language specification (you think it would be cross-referenced from the class), I noticed that it was exactly like Perl 5 regex's. I noticed that the escape codes were familiar, even the more exotic \A, \Z, and \G; and the replacement string took $digit or ${name} for captured groups, while the pattern string took \digit. Then I came upon the lazy-match quantifiers and I knew this had to be taken as-is from Perl. It even has the (?>...) stuff and a x option.

So... does this incorporate the actual Perl 5 source code, or was it written from scratch using the Perl 5 docs as a design spec?

More importantly, has anyone made a comparison in detail on how they differ? Rather than wading though the docs for a system I already know, it would be handy to just have a short list of what's different about it. Also, that's bound to be the confusing and surprising part.

After wading through this half-thought-through language, seeing mature Perl regular expressions as-is is like a breath of fresh air.

I wonder if our regex skills will get tapped by a new user base now? Nah, the feature will be pretty much ignored in favor of more brute-force way of accomplishing a problem.

—John

In reply to Microsoft's .NET ate a piece of Perl 5? by John M. Dlugosz

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