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Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern

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On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:42:55 -0500, Leif Roar Moldskred
<leifm@dimnakorr.com> wrote:

>Jimmy <jimmy_please@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Have been having hard time to come up with the regular expression to replace the following..
>
>Then don't use a regular expression. 
>
>There's a quote by Brian Kernighan that “Debugging is twice as hard as
>writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code
>as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to
>debug it.”

     A bit of exaggeration, but not much.

>In other words, if it's not quickly obvious how to write a regular
>expression that does what you want, use something else. Your
>maintenance programmers (often your six-month older self) will thank
>you.

     If you really, really, really have to do it, know that you will
end up with Write-Only code so isolate as much as you can.  Document
it, and hope that you never have to deal with it again.  If you do,
you will appreciate the documentation.

>From the description you've given of the problem, I would think that
>your best bet is to parse your input as a CSV, do the required
>changes, and write it back into a CSV. Easier to write and easier to
>read than a dose of line noise.

     And easier to modify.  What if you later have to also modify
column 4 to always have 'N'?  If your first reaction is negative, then
your code is too complex.

     I write a lot of my code without worrying much about how fast or
elegant it is.  Usually, it is quite fast enough, and it is
maintainable.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

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Thread

need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Jimmy <jimmy_please@yahoo.com> - 2012-07-11 10:35 -0700
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-07-11 15:24 -0700
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Knute Johnson <nospam@rabbitbrush.frazmtn.com> - 2012-07-11 15:40 -0700
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Daniele Futtorovic <da.futt.news@laposte-dot-net.invalid> - 2012-07-12 00:56 +0200
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2012-07-11 21:21 -0700
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Jimmy <jimmy_please@yahoo.com> - 2012-07-12 07:28 -0700
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-07-12 11:24 -0400
      Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Joshua Cranmer <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2012-07-12 11:42 -0400
      Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-07-23 22:55 -0400
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Leif Roar Moldskred <leifm@dimnakorr.com> - 2012-07-12 09:42 -0500
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2012-07-12 09:18 -0700
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-12 18:34 +0000
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-07-23 22:53 -0400
  Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-07-23 22:48 -0400
    Re: need regular expression to replace part of result based on a search pattern Arne Vajhøj <arne@vajhoej.dk> - 2012-07-25 17:37 -0400

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