Patterns - The Regex App

Patterns - The Regex App

By Nikolai Krill

  • Category: Developer Tools
  • Release Date: 2011-04-07
  • Current Version: 1.2
  • Adult Rating: 4+
  • File Size: 694.57 kB
  • Developer: Nikolai Krill
  • Compatibility: Requires iOS 10.7 or later.
$2.99 On itunes

Description

Patterns is the ultimate tool for working with regular expressions. Build great patterns quickly and effortlessly with regex syntax highlighting, live match view, replace mode, built-in quick reference, and much more. Whether you're a seasoned regex wizard or new to regex, Patterns is the only tool you'll ever need. FEATURES: - Regular expression syntax highlighting makes it easy to see how your pattern is interpreted by the regex engine. No more confusion about what needs to be escaped. - The Matches view lets you inspect all matches and captured text produced by your regex, alongside your search text. Clicking on a match or group highlights both the matched search text and the specific portion of your regex that produced the match or capture. - See matches, replacements, and filter results in real time while you edit your pattern. - Use the Copy Code feature to quickly export your pattern for use in a number of different programming languages. - The built-in regular expression quick reference sheet helps you learn and expand your knowledge of regex syntax. - Customize the regex engine for different regex "flavors". Supported flavors are: Oniguruma, POSIX Basic (BRE), POSIX Extended (ERE), Perl (PCRE), emacs, Java, Ruby, bash, grep, and sed.

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Reviews

  • Good, missing a few things that would make it great.

    4
    By ChrisPKnight
    App is very easy to use and with the Dark Mode support easy on the eyes. The ability to use many differnt regex engines is very good. It is missing though the Python engines, re and especially regex. The later is a very cool engine in that it allows variable length lookbehind assertions. Patterns does not have an engine that supports this. Also, when copying code out, there is not a way to just get the regex expression fro Python, you get a bunch of extra code that is great if you have not already coded that and all you need is to add some or majorly edit an expression in your code with copy code from Patterns. You can still get it though by highlighting the expression in Patterns and cammand-c and then paste into the code editor you are using. A nice one button that gets my only what I want would be a nice to have feature. And another thing, so Python has tow possible possible regex engines I know of the basix re and the regex one by Mathew Barnett. They are little differnt so it would be nice if copy code had the choice of which Python engine one will use.

  • Probably my favorite app in the store

    5
    By Just One Guy Studios LLC
    I use this app pretty much every day. This has everything from matching to substitution, and it even will generate code snippets for multiple language implementations. I use this every day to test expressions and do stuff like validate addresses in a database. Worth every dollar.

  • Feature Request

    4
    By NhiVanye
    Patterns has become my defacto tool for regex investigations, but a useful feature would be a history record. I typically have multiple projects on the go at once and having a record of what I was trying would be great...

  • Missing a way to save expressions for later

    4
    By edeleanu
    I want to start by saying that this is almost a perfect tool. As a programmer, I'm very impressed by this tool. It's a very convenient, intuitive, and beautiful regex editor. It's so easy to test the perfomance of capture groups and such. This tool is even able to handle the idiosyncracies of various programming environments. For example, a regex that works in Java might not work in PHP. This app takes that into account. Really useful. So what's the problem? There's no way to save an expression (or the sample text for testing it). There is not even a way to open new tabs. If you want to start playing with a new expression, you have to erase the old. It's a shocking oversight for a developer that is clearly very talented.

  • I don't regex often, but when I do...

    5
    By mukman
    I can't get it done without Patterns. Always. Thanks!

  • Crashes and no autosave

    2
    By BigJason
    I like the editor and find the app very useful. However the app crashes everytime I try to create a named group. When it happens there is no autosave so I can pickup from where I left off. This means lost work and wasted time. APP needs some work.

  • Wonderful Regex Mockup Tool

    5
    By thirdgen88
    I don't usually write reviews, but when I saw this tool show up with a major update, I couldn't help but contribute. I use this tool very frequently to mock up regular expression patterns and it fits the bill everytime. I love the reference sheet too--there have been times I launch Patterns just to use the Reference sheet! If you want a great companion app for regular expressions, look no further, this is the premier one on macOS.

  • Enjoyable Way Experiment & Learn

    5
    By I like to calculate
    I’ve used regular expressions off and on for the past few decades - they are indispensable for certain tasks, and huge time savers in others. But I don’t use them constantly, which means I often need a quick refresher to get things working just right. That’s where this nicely crafted app comes in. I find it a quick, and intuitive way to re-familiarize myself with the arcane workings of regex expressions. My compliments to Nikolai Krill. Thanks for another great update!

  • I just wish…

    4
    By WillisWasabi
    I like this app. It’s so helpful to see the live results as you type. I use a lot of regexes, but mostly on the command line. I wish the regex choices included sed/grep/awk/POSIX instead of only programming languages. I’m using PHP because that seems to be POSIX. In general, it would be helpful to have POSIX BRE, POSIX ERE, PCRE, Oniguruma, etc as choices instead of only programming languages. This hasn’t been updated in a while, so I’m not too hopeful. I’d definitely spend more money to get my wish. :)

  • Fast, effective for building or validating a regex against sample data

    5
    By Ransomed
    I love Patterns. Drop in some real samples I want to match against, as well as any false positives (things that are matching that I don’t want to match). Type in some fake ones as well if desired. Then build up the regex, keeping the handy cheatsheet up as necessary. I like the iteration it allows me. Only things missing IMO are: 1 - ability to save a workspace, my #1 desire. I’d love to save both regexes and the samples I test it against, for later refinement or sharing. 2 - would like it to keep a scratchpad, a history of iterations. Would make it even more freeing to experiment, go back and forth, and recover complicated bits after working out another section of logic. Right now, to solve both of these, I keep a text doc handy and copy out my work (patterns and example text) frequently so I have a record of work.

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