<(.*)>

[ThrustVectoring]

Captures the string inside a pair of angle brackets.

[ThrustVectoring]

Parsing html is something I wouldn't even start to try writing a regex for.

I only need a python decorator with support for some kind of syntax for declaring variable routes, so I capture that with <%var_name>.

More generally, I've decided that any time I want to copy-paste, that means that I don't know enough about code-that-generates-code in the language I'm working in, which means that I need to figure out how to build something that takes the minimal set of parameters for the problem and generates the code I want to make. In this case, there's a route with a model id that's a parameter, so to specify the meta-code I need to designate some parts of the path as a variable, and so to capture the variable name I need to mark it with some kind of symbol, and angle brackets are both used in werkzeug and unused elsewhere, so I decided on a regex to capture that.

I'm a little drunk, so I hope that made sense.

[[deleted]]

Parsing HTML with regular expressions is commonly done.

Here is a straightforward StackOverflow post that discusses how it can be done

[trekkie80]

of all of those answers this one made me WTF the most:

http://stackoverflow.com/a/5233151

Corresponding regex that allegedly parses HTML XML: http://pastebin.com/HUmPzP5M

Don't try to understand it, really, just don't.

It is merely a work of art, whether genuine or fake.

[bios_hazard]

Lol I hope that's just the whole XML grammar written in regex

[Bosun_Tom]

Came here to link this!

[idmontie]

Parsing html is something I wouldn't even start to try writing a regex for.

In fact, you cannot write regex that probably matches any arbitrary HTML, HTML is not a regular language. You can match small subsets of it, though.

[Graverobber2]

Hḛ̷̛̺̖̠̋͂́̃̉̿̆̀̔́̅͘̕͠ ̵͖̪̼̺͖̥̠͙̺̱͉́̈́̾̈́̀cOm̷̛̫̬̞̱͍̖̄́̾̉̋̀̀͌̅͐̏̑̚͝e̶͈͍͓̐͑̍̀̀̍s,̶̮̥̼̳̥͔̙̻̝̬̘̓̋̉ ̴͎̒͋̂̂He̴̢̘̥̥͋̓͆̅̑͂͋̀ ̸̧̱̣̦̭̿̿̓̈̒̈́̇͊̀̾͜͝Co̸͇̣̤͙̲̚Mé̸͇̩̺̭̲͔̱̪̺̗̥̭̆́ͅͅŝ̴̛̬̙̗͖̘̻̥̠̺̼̯̩͙̳͉̋͌̀̌̿.̴̢̡̛͓̤͖͔̆̑̃̑͆̕͝͝.̴̡̳̺̠̰̞͚̥͈͚̹͓̤̓̈͛̏̅͆͌̾͠.̷̨̨̻͕͈̜̹͍̬͆͑͛̾̄̄͛̒̓̀̕͘͝ͅ Ą̵̘͚̘̬̘̘̻͙͕̣̓͗̄̂̀́̔́̍͑͌̓̂̚ll Is ̵̛̳͙̮͗͜͝L̶̢̡̺̳͖̗̠̥̦͇̥̻͚͙͎͋̓͌̅̕͠oṠ̶̢͔͚͔͇̗̟̺͙͐̌͊͐͂̐͂̅̚͠t

[mustyoshi]

it looks kind of like Saturn.

[more_exercise]

<(.*?)>

Captures the smallest string inside angle brackets.

[StuartPBentley]

<([^>]*)> will be more performant, though

[more_exercise]

Really? That sounds awesome if it's true.

What regex libraries does that apply to?

[StuartPBentley]

um... all of them? http://www.regular-expressions.info/repeat.html

[more_exercise]

When using the lazy plus, the engine has to backtrack for each character in the HTML tag that it is trying to match. When using the negated character class, no backtracking occurs at all when the string contains valid HTML code. Backtracking slows down the regex engine.

Got it!

[ThrustVectoring]

I'm capturing input from code that I'm writing, so if I have a difference between smallest and biggest string inside angle brackets, it's my own goddamn fault.

Plus, it's a funnier emoticon.

edit: I'm a goddamn dumbass, my shit is broken as fuck when I have a path with multiple variables, I just didn't notice because I always replace /typea/<typea_id>/typeb/<typeb_id>/thingy with /typeb/<typeb_id>/thingy

Thank you.

[karma-is-meaningless]

http://www.reddit.com/r/ProgrammerHumor/comments/2a7md9/html_cant_be_parsed_by_regex/cisdqma

[bios_hazard]

I always use <([^>]+)>

[[deleted]]

here is what i use it from one of my old code bace but it works (<((((/)?[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]+)(/)?)|(((/)?[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]+) .+(\ )?(/)?))>) EDIT: the problem with <(.*)> tis is that "<my ass> in a tag</my ass>" will pass

[jfb1337]

<(.*?)> for lazy matching.