[ Thanks to Randy
Cosby for this link. ]
“Ask any relatively-experienced *NIX user to list his top ten
favorite things about the operating system, and you’re almost
certain to hear him mutter, somewhere between “99% uptime” and
“remote system reboots”, the phrase “regular expressions”.”
“Ask any relatively-experienced *NIX user to list the ten things
he hates most about the operating system, and somewhere between
“zombie processes” and “installation”, he’s sure to spit out the
phrase “regular expressions”.”
“It’s precisely this complex love-hate equation that spawned
the idea for a tutorial on regular expressions – surely, went the
reasoning, something that induced such strong emotions in normally
hard-headed *NIX administrators was worthy of investigation.
And so, regardless of whether you’re new to regular expressions, or
an old hand at putting them together, the next few pages should
help you resolve your conflicted feelings on the subject. Hey – it
*is* cheaper than therapy…”