Accomplishing the task is impossible without the tools others have mentioned, but the first tool I turn to is Komodo's Rx Toolkit. It is a GUI based regex sandbox.

You need a sample data set to paste in the input text area, but once you have that Komodo provides a graphical and organizational interpretation of your regular expression as you type it.

It is not magic (I've often got it stuck in infinite loops, but even then its better to see it there than in your actual program), but it does have some magical features to it.

I've built regexes that a) I never would have been able to implement alone, or at least 2) came up with a more robust, less buggy regex in a fraction of the time.

It can make an expert regex programmer exponentially more efficient, and changes the lerning curve for regex beginners from a mountain hike to a boardwalk stroll.

After rereading this it sounds like a commercial, but it really is that good.

Way to go ActiveState.

In reply to Re: Regex Debugger? by trwww
in thread Regex Debugger? by pileofrogs

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