TXT2REGEX(1)

📦 version 0.9, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, epel 10, epel 9, fedora 43, fedora 44, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🌸 TXT2REGEX — the console regular expression wizard ✨

okay bestie, sit down, we're learning txt2regex, which lives in the General Commands Manual section (that's section 1, iykyk) and is genuinely one of the most underrated glow-ups in Unix history 💅

✨ NAME ✨

txt2regex — console regular expression wizard 🧚

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

txt2regex [--nocolor|--whitebg] [--all|--prog programs]

txt2regex --showmeta

txt2regex --showinfo program [--nocolor]

txt2regex --history value [--all|--prog programs]

txt2regex --make label [--all|--prog programs]

like… five whole moods. pick your fighter 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So txt2regex is a regular expression wizard that converts human sentences into regexes. that's the whole vibe. you type the thing you mean in people-words, it hands you back the regex. no cap 🔥

In a simple interactive console interface, the user answers questions and txt2regex builds the regexes for more than 20 programs. twenty. plus. programs. one wizard. iconic behavior honestly 👑

the project lives at https://aurelio.net/projects/txt2regex/ — go say hi, it's giving main character energy 🌈

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • --all — selects all the available programs. ⚠️ but bestie, be aware that the list of available programs is long. you will need a terminal window with more than 40 lines for the user interface to fit. also make sure that the $LINES shell variable is exported, so txt2regex can detect the current number of available lines. do not skip that step, fr fr 😭
  • -h, --help — print the help message and quit. the classic. the beloved. 🫶
  • --history <value> — print a regex from the given history data. the history value is shown in the last screen of the wizard, when you quit. so don't close the terminal like a gremlin, screenshot it first 📸
  • --make <label> — print a ready regex for the specified label. inform an empty label to see the list of available labels. yes, empty. like, nothing. that's the cheat code 🎀
  • --nocolor — do not use colors. (respect. some terminals are just going through it) 🚫🌈
  • --prog <program1,program2,...> — specify which programs to use, separated by commas. use --showmeta to see the complete list of available programs. pick your squad 💅
  • --showinfo <program> — print regex-related info about the specified program. use --nocolor to have a text-only output (no control characters). clean, plain, ✨unbothered✨
  • --showmeta — print a metacharacters table featuring all the programs. this is the big one. the group photo. 📊
  • -V, --version — print the program version and quit. short and sweet, love that for it ⭐
  • --whitebg — adjust colors for white background terminals. because your eyes deserve nice things 🦋

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Using it as a wizard (interactive interface):

txt2regex

Specify a custom selection of programs for the wizard:

txt2regex --prog perl,python,php,javascript

Getting an extensive metacharacters table:

txt2regex --showmeta

Getting regex-related information about sed:

txt2regex --showinfo sed

Replay a regex by using history data:

txt2regex --history '16421¤:01¤:'

Getting handy ready-to-use regexes for common patterns:

txt2regex --make hour
txt2regex --make number3 --prog perl
txt2regex --make date2 --all

look at that last one going --all like a boss 😌 slay.

👑 WIZARD INTERFACE 👑

here's the layout of the whole thing, bestie. this is your screen:

+---------------------------------------+
| Top menu                              |
| Group menu                            |
|                                       |
| Regexes of the selected programs      |
| ...                                   |
| ...                                   |
|                                       |
| History                               |
| Prompt                                |
|                                       |
| The question                          |
| The answers                           |
| ...                                   |
| ...                                   |
+---------------------------------------+

Top menu, group menu, the regexes of the selected programs, history, prompt, the question, the answers… it's a whole little world in there 🌸

💅 WIZARD COMMANDS 💅

these are the keys you press while you're inside the wizard. memorize them, they're your love language:

  • . — quit the program (with confirmation). it asks first because it's polite 🥺
  • 0 — reset the regular expression. fresh start, clean slate, new me 🧼
  • 1-9 — answers the questions. nine whole answers at your fingertips 🔢
  • * — toggles color ON/OFF 🌈
  • / — add/remove programs ➕➖
  • | — insert an alternation (where allowed) 🔀
  • ( — open a new group (where allowed) 📂
  • ) — close the opened group (if any) 📁
ok real talk: |, ( and ) say "where allowed" for a reason — you can't just spam them anywhere, the wizard will tell you. and ) only does something if there's a group open, so don't be out here closing nothing 💀

💀 BUGS 💀

found a bug? not me being dramatic but… https://github.com/aureliojargas/txt2regex/issues — that's the place. report it there, bestie, the maintainers wanna know 🙈

🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

Aurelio Jargas <verde@aurelio.net> — the legend themselves 💖

Copyright © 2001-2020 Aurelio Jargas, GNU GPL v2 🎀

and that's the whole page!! this one's from the General Commands Manual gang (TXT2REGEX(1)), dated May 21, 2020, and that's a wrap — go build some regexes, you absolute icon 👑✨

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