8.6. Exercises
See Section A.7, "Answers to Chapter 8 Exercises" for answers to the following
exercises. These exercises are among the most challenging in the
entire book. But don't get too discouraged! The following
chapters will actually be easier, partly because you'll have
the power of regular expressions to help you.
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[4] Using the test program from the previous chapter, make a pattern
that matches only lines containing either the word
fred or wilma, followed by some
whitespace, and then the word flintstone. So it
should match the string I am fred flintstone (with
one or more spaces or tabs between the names).
-
[10] Here, we give you the answer; you decide what problem it's
trying to solve. What do these real-world patterns match? What might
they be used for?
/"([^"]*)"/
/^0?[0-3]?[0-7]{1,2}$/
/^\b[\w.]{1,12}\b$/
Try each of them in the test program. It may help to find some
strings that match (and that fail to match) each one.
-
[8] Make a pattern that will match a string containing nothing but a
scalar variable's name (not its value!), like
$fred, $barney, or
$_ (but you shouldn't match special
variables like $0). That is, if the line of input
has the six characters $wilma, the pattern should
match. If the input says wilma, it should not
match.
-
[12] Make a pattern that matches any line of input that has the same
word repeated two or more times in a row. Words in this problem can
be considered to be sequences of letters a to
z or A to Z,
digits, and underscores. Whitespace between words may differ. For
example, the classic observation-test string Paris in the
the spring should match, since it has a doubled word. Also,
I thought that that was the problem should match,
even though that may be a correct use of a doubled word. Does your
pattern match all three words in I
thought that that that was the problem (with extra spaces
between only some of the words)? Does it match This is
a test? How about This
shouldn't match, according to the theory of
regular expressions?
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