Rx (current version: 0.53; last updated 2001-02-28)
Rx is a backend for writing regex debuggers for Perl.
It provides functions to do the following:
- Decompile a Perl regex into a hash structure
- Instrument a hash structure with callbacks that will be invoked during
the execution of the regex
- Recompile the modified hash structure back into Perl's internal
regex format
- Install compiled regexes into the Perl op tree
If you arranage that the callbacks will appropriately update a Tk
window, you will have a graphical regex debugger. If the callbacks
print out diagnostic information and prompt for a command before
returning, you have a command-line regex debugger. These functions
could be integrated into the standard Perl source debugger (perl
-d) or into a standalone application.
Rx formed the basis for the regex debugger component of
ActiveState's ASPN
Komodo IDE. (Whether it still does, I can't say.) The
Rx kit is released under the Artistic License courtesy of
ActiveState.
Available Materials
- Rx 0.53 source code
- Early proof-of-concept Tk applications:
- Rx: A Regex Debugger for
Perl. My award-winning paper about the internals of
Rx. If you're planning to use Rx, this is all the
documentation there is at present. However, it is reasonably complete.
Rx is not yet a complete, end-user application; it is a
kit for building such applications. If you built a complete regex
debugger application using Rx, please let me know so that I
can mention it here.
What's New in 0.53
0.53 is the initial release
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