Regex Tutorial 1: Literal Text

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What is Literal Text?

Literal text is what it sounds like "literal text". Literal text is kind of a WYSIWYG method of capturing data from documents. WYSIWYG stands for What You See is What You Get.

Example #1: Literal Text

Regular Expression Pattern	132
Document text	"abc123 321 132 1 3 2 1,32 1321321221"
Findings	"abc123 321 132 1 3 2 1,32 1321321221"
Caught text	"132", "132", "132"

Importance of Literal Text

You may be thinking, "That's not regex!"; however, literal text is the foundation for regular expressions, and understanding the idea of a literal piece of text is essential for understanding regular expressions.

Example #2: Literal Punctuation

Regular Expression Pattern	!!
Document text	"How does this work!!?? Is it working!? I hope so!!"
Findings	"How does this work!!?? Is it working!? I hope so!!"
Caught text	"!!", "!!"

• Regex Tutorial 1: Literal Text
• Regex Tutorial 2: Repeat This, Repeat that
• Regex Tutorial 3: Phone Nums