If you’re needing that level of complexity in a text file search, you already fucked up by putting the data in a text file. There’s a reason data file formats exist.
Not even close. Sometimes you can have a large text file where you need to do a find replace with a pattern. For example, in the translation world this can be a common occurrence for translation files (.xliff) or translation memories (.tmx).
There’s a reason why this is widely used and it’s not because everyone else but you is dumb.
Why would I use SQL to to reformat a poorly structured log file for programs whose source I have no input in during a live debug with a customer on system that I don’t own and can’t install anything on? Or to extract and format things like hosts from a similar file?
That’s stuff that’s quickly and easily done in vim (which is generally part of the base install) with regex. There’s a lot of use cases that have no overlap with SQL.
I’m saying if your use case makes regex the best option, you’ve gone the wrong way and should turn back. There are definitely corners you can paint yourself into that make it the way to go, but you’ve ended up there through a series of bad ideas.
Maybe, just maybe, the context in which you use regex isn’t the same as everyone elses. But hey, who am I to deny you the disservice of thinking you’re the center of the world?
If you’re needing that level of complexity in a text file search, you already fucked up by putting the data in a text file. There’s a reason data file formats exist.
Not even close. Sometimes you can have a large text file where you need to do a find replace with a pattern. For example, in the translation world this can be a common occurrence for translation files (.xliff) or translation memories (.tmx).
There’s a reason why this is widely used and it’s not because everyone else but you is dumb.
Turns out the million hours of coding put into SQL, makes it a better option than regex, even for xml based files.
Why would I use SQL to to reformat a poorly structured log file for programs whose source I have no input in during a live debug with a customer on system that I don’t own and can’t install anything on? Or to extract and format things like hosts from a similar file?
That’s stuff that’s quickly and easily done in vim (which is generally part of the base install) with regex. There’s a lot of use cases that have no overlap with SQL.
So your use cases for regex are when you’re not going to actually fix the problem that caused you to need regex?
Maybe for your very specific use case that’s true. However, other use cases exist and for many of those RegEx is the better option.
I’m saying if your use case makes regex the best option, you’ve gone the wrong way and should turn back. There are definitely corners you can paint yourself into that make it the way to go, but you’ve ended up there through a series of bad ideas.
Maybe, just maybe, the context in which you use regex isn’t the same as everyone elses. But hey, who am I to deny you the disservice of thinking you’re the center of the world?