Is it possible merge http://www.regexper.com/

[gskinner]

Is it possible merge http://www.regexper.com/

[stuartpb]

I could see this being fairly useful as an integrated feature into the Expression line, actually, as it does give another way of reviewing the expression that is arguably neater than the mouseover hints RegExr currently provides.

Maybe I'll look into writing up a PR that could integrate it in such a fashion (it is MIT licensed, after all).

(Insane awesome and only-partially-related feature idea: a "match in slow-mo" button that actually steps through the regular expression engine for the text and highlights each point on the flowchart to show where exactly what logic a match fails.)

It's also hosted at github

https://github.com/javallone/regexper

[Nightfirecat]

What do you want to be "merged"?

regexr and regexper are two entirely different projects - the former is focused on matching sample text, where the latter is focused on creating a graphical representation of a regular expression, and does no matching.

try to combine both together.
should be very awesome.

[Gambloide]

As @Nightfirecat pointed out these are two completely different tools. Adding regexpers redering feature really wouldn't benefit regexr.

Regexr ist (at least from how I see people using it) a tool used for development, while regexper is quite useless actually. I can only imagine it being useful for educational purposes or visualizing overly involved regular expressions.

Is there really any concrete reason which would justify the devs thinking about implementing this feature, instead of making the existing tools features even more awesome?

[benaubin]

+1 This helps visual thinkers see what their regex does - which helps a lot, and gives a second way of interpreting regex.

Thinking about doing this myself - @stuartpb, if you don't do this, I could.

[gskinner]

How does this compare to our existing Explain feature. What does it offer you that Explain doesn't? Trying to establish a value proposition for this before committing time to any implementation.

[stuartpb]

As I said two and a half years ago, it gives another way of reviewing the expression that's neater than the mouseover explanations: Regexper's diagrams allow the structure of the entire expression to be read at once, in a way that is directly annotated (for instance, the way "One of:" is placed above a box denoting a character class, instead of having this notion be something implicit that could slip through the cracks in a developer's conception of their regexp when reviewing its parts, piece by piece, in a tooltip).

[gskinner]

Right, and following that input we added the Explain tool in v2.1, which isn't exactly the same, but does provide the single view overview you suggested.

My updated question was in relation to Explain. Does it do what you need? Or are there still aspects of regexper that you miss?

[gskinner]

https://jex.im/regulex/ is another, nearly identical tool to look at.

[stuartpb]

Ah, okay, I see. Yeah, the "Explain" overview is still too wordy, too sprawling, and not adequately visual (compare the looping arrow around "word" on https://regexper.com/#(%5BA-Z%5D)%5Cw%2B against the abstract cognitive load Explain uses to present the concept: "Plus. Match 1 or more of the preceding token.").

[stuartpb]

And, yes, the Regulex codebase looks much cleaner to integrate (it's also MIT licensed); that'd be the way I'd integrate this feature today.

[stuartpb]

One thing I'll say is that, from a UX standpoint, it'd make a lot more sense to me to have this Diagram and/or Explain tool up at the top, next to "Save" and "Share", than at the bottom, beneath the Text that it's not relevant to at all.