regex of the month (decade?)

^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
 [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
[Ii][Cc][Ee]|[ ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
 [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])


the challenge: itemize the stupidities. the case issue is only 1! i
don't want to even post the 'spec' unless asked for it. i saw this on
usenet today.

enjoy!!

uri

--
Uri Guttman  ------  uri@stemsystems.com  -------- [url]http://www.stemsystems.com[/url
]
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and Coding
-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs  ----------------------------  [url]http://jobs.perl.org[/url
]

Hi Uri!

On 07 Jan 08 at 23:06, "Uri" (Uri Guttman) wrote:

Uri> ^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
Uri>  [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
Uri> [Ii][Cc][Ee]|[
Uri> ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
Uri>  [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])


I've observed this pattern in FreeBSD startup (shell) scripts.
I do realize that shell is not perl, but nevertheless the style
still baffles me, I cannot decide whether this is extraordinary
stupidity or extraordinary wisdom :)
F.ex., /etc/rc.firewall on 6.2-stable has this:

case ${firewall_type} in
 [Oo][Pp][Ee][Nn]|[Cc][Ll][Ii][Ee][Nn][Tt
])
case ${natd_enable} in
[Yy][Ee][Ss])


--
Sincerely,
Dmitry Karasik

At 04:06 PM 1/7/2008, Uri Guttman wrote:

>^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
> [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
>[Ii][Cc][Ee]|[ ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
> [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])
>
>
>the challenge: itemize the stupidities. the case issue is only 1! i
>don't want to even post the 'spec' unless asked for it. i saw this on
>usenet today.

Why use  [ ]  in one place when  \s  is known and used previously?

And  ^  (i.e. \A)  doesn't distribute across the alternatives, so
only the first alternative must match at beginning of string.

Assuming use of   (?ix)  then is this the de-obfuscated equivalent?
^( P ( OST)? [.\s]* O (FFICE)? [.\s]* BOX )
|
PO ( B | X | DRAWER | STOFFICE | [ ]BX | BOX )
|
P[/]O
|
B ( X | OX | UZON )
|
A ( PARTADO | PTDO )



--
I'm a pessimist about probabilities; I'm an optimist about possibilities.
Lewis Mumford  (1895-1990)

On Jan 7, 2008 5:06 PM, Uri Guttman <uri@stemsystems.com> wrote:

>
> ^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
>  [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
> [Ii][Cc][Ee]|[ ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
>  [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])
>
>
> the challenge: itemize the stupidities. the case issue is only 1! i
> don't want to even post the 'spec' unless asked for it. i saw this on
> usenet today.
>
> enjoy!!
>
> uri
>
> --
> Uri Guttman  ------  uri@stemsystems.com  --------
> http://www.stemsystems.com
> --Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and
> Coding-
> Search or Offer Perl Jobs  ----------------------------  [url]http://jobs.perl.org[/u
rl]
>
>

I don't even want to know what that's supposed to do.
First, and most obviously, that should use /i. That gives us:
^(p(ost)?[.\s]*o(ffice)?[. \s]*box)|po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|\sbx|box
)|p/o|b(x|
ox|uzon)|a(partado|ptdo)


Last I checked, '.' matches \s. Oh, and '/' uis a pretty important
character, and should really be escaped.
^(p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?. *box)|po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|\sbx|box)|p
\/o|b(x|ox|uzon
)|a(partado|ptdo)


Unless I'm horribly mistaken, that can be simplified incredibly to
^(p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?.*box)|po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|\sbx)|p\/o|b(o?x|uzon)|a(p
artado|ptdo)
or
^(p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?.*)(b|x|drawer)|p\/o|b(o?x|uzon)|a(partado|ptdo)

In total, I count 9 errors and 213 characters removed. Though, I can't
count, so that may be wrong. Did I miss anything?

Dan Collins wrote:
> Last I checked, '.' matches \s. Oh, and '/' uis a pretty important
> character, and should really be escaped.

No, '.' inside [] matches '.'.  The [.\s] is looking for a period or
whitespace.

And there's no reason to escape '/' if you're not using slashes for the
regex delimiters.  If you want to escape it because you make a habit to
do so in regexes, that's fine, but it's not an error not to.

--
Keith C. Ivey <keith@iveys.org>
Washington, DC

>>>>> "DC" == Dan Collins <en.wp.st47@gmail.com> writes:


DC> Last I checked, '.' matches \s. Oh, and '/' uis a pretty important
DC> character, and should really be escaped.

nope. . doesn't match \n which is part of \s. you need the /s modifier
to make . match \n (and then of course \s).

DC> In total, I count 9 errors and 213 characters removed. Though, I can't
DC> count, so that may be wrong. Did I miss anything?

i dunno. i can't figure it out either. that is why i posted it here! :)

uri

--
Uri Guttman  ------  uri@stemsystems.com  -------- [url]http://www.stemsystems.com[/url
]
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and Coding
-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs  ----------------------------  [url]http://jobs.perl.org[/url
]

I think I would rewrite
[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?
as
([Oo][Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?

but, pardon my ignorance, won't an "i" at the end of the regex make it catch
either case?

Meryll

-----Original Message-----
From: Uri Guttman [mailto:uri@stemsystems.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 2:06 PM
To: Fun with Perl
Subject: regex of the month (decade?)


^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
 [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
[Ii][Cc][Ee]|[ ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
 [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])


the challenge: itemize the stupidities. the case issue is only 1! i
don't want to even post the 'spec' unless asked for it. i saw this on
usenet today.

enjoy!!

uri

--
Uri Guttman  ------  uri@stemsystems.com  --------
http://www.stemsystems.com
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and
Coding-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs  ----------------------------
http://jobs.perl.org

After solving the case sensitivity issue, separating the alternations, and
solving the un-escaped /, here is what we are left with.

(p(ost)?[.\s]*o(ffice)?[.\s]*box)
po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|[ ]bx|box)
p[\/]o
b(x|ox|uzon)
a(partado|ptdo)

Which matches:
(p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?.*box)

 post(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)of
fice(anynumberofanythingexceptnewlin
e)box
 p(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)offic
e(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)b
ox
 post(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)o(
anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)box
 p(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)o(any
numberofanythingexceptnewline)box


po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|[ ]bx|box)

pob
pox
podrawer
postoffice
po bx
pobox


p[\/]o

p/o


b(x|ox|uzon)

bx
box
buzon


a(partado|ptdo)
apartado
aptdo


I can't imagine what the original specs were, but it looks like a patch job
gone awry.

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: Uri Guttman [mailto:uri@stemsystems.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 5:06 PM
To: Fun with Perl
Subject: regex of the month (decade?)



^([Pp]([Oo][Ss][Tt])?[.\s]*[Oo]([Ff][Ff][Ii][Cc][Ee])?[.\s]*[Bb][Oo]
 [Xx])|[Pp][Oo]([Bb]|[Xx]|[Dd][Rr][Aa][Ww
][Ee][Rr]|[Ss][Tt][Oo][Ff][Ff]
[Ii][Cc][Ee]|[ ][Bb][Xx]|[Bb][Oo][Xx])|[Pp][/][Oo]|[Bb]([Xx]|[Oo][Xx]|
 [Uu][Zz][Oo][Nn])|[Aa]([Pp][Aa][Rr][Tt][
Aa][Dd][Oo]|[Pp][Tt][Dd][Oo])


the challenge: itemize the stupidities. the case issue is only 1! i
don't want to even post the 'spec' unless asked for it. i saw this on
usenet today.

enjoy!!

uri

--
Uri Guttman  ------  uri@stemsystems.com  --------
http://www.stemsystems.com
--Perl Consulting, Stem Development, Systems Architecture, Design and
Coding-
Search or Offer Perl Jobs  ----------------------------
http://jobs.perl.org

Stoll, Steven R. wrote:
> (p(ost)?[.\s]*o(ffice)?[.\s]*box)
> po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|[ ]bx|box)
> p[\/]o
> b(x|ox|uzon)
> a(partado|ptdo)
>
> Which matches:
> (p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?.*box)
>
>  post(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)of
fice(anynumberofanythingexceptnewl
in
> e)box

'[.\s]*' matches any number of periods or whitespace characters, since
'.' is not special inside a character class.  It's not the same as '.*'.
Also, even if '.' were special, '\s' matches newline along with other
whitespace characters.

--
Keith C. Ivey <keith@iveys.org>
Washington, DC

You're right.  Mistook it for (.\s) for some reason.  My description of .*
still stands however.

But the following should be:
(p(ost)?[.\s]*o(ffice)?[.\s]*box)

 post(anynumberofperiodsorspacecharacterc
lassitems)office(anynumberofperiodso
rspacecharacterclassitems)box

 p(anynumberofperiodsorspacecharacterclas
sitems)o(anynumberofperiodsorspacech
aracterclassitems)box

 p(anynumberofperiodsorspacecharacterclas
sitems)office(anynumberofperiodsorsp
acecharacterclassitems)box

 post(anynumberofperiodsorspacecharacterc
lassitems)o(anynumberofperiodsorspac
echaracterclassitems)box

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Ivey [mailto:keith@iveys.org]
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:27 AM
To: Fun with Perl
Subject: Re: regex of the month (decade?)


Stoll, Steven R. wrote:
> (p(ost)?[.\s]*o(ffice)?[.\s]*box)
> po(b|x|drawer|stoffice|[ ]bx|box)
> p[\/]o
> b(x|ox|uzon)
> a(partado|ptdo)
>
> Which matches:
> (p(ost)?.*o(ffice)?.*box)
>
>
 post(anynumberofanythingexceptnewline)of
 fice(anynumberofanythingexceptnewlin[col
or=darkred]
> e)box[/color]

'[.\s]*' matches any number of periods or whitespace characters, since
'.' is not special inside a character class.  It's not the same as '.*'.
Also, even if '.' were special, '\s' matches newline along with other
whitespace characters.

--
Keith C. Ivey <keith@iveys.org>
Washington, DC