[iOliverC]

Hi guys,

I've been told I can use regex.h for powering the regular expression searches in my app. I'm never actually touched pure C code (is regex.h C?), so I've really got no idea how to implement it in a Cocoa based application.

I guess I could use NSTask, but I think that could cause major slowdowns. I also know about the OmniFrameworks and others (MOKit etc.), but I'd rather cook up my own engine if possible. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Oliver

[hayesk]

Originally posted by iOliverC:
Hi guys,

I've been told I can use regex.h for powering the regular expression searches in my app. I'm never actually touched pure C code (is regex.h C?), so I've really got no idea how to implement it in a Cocoa based application.

I guess I could use NSTask, but I think that could cause major slowdowns. I also know about the OmniFrameworks and others (MOKit etc.), but I'd rather cook up my own engine if possible. Any help is appreciated.

Do you use Obj-C in Cocoa? If so, then you already use C. Include the header, and call the functions whenever you need to parse something. You should be able to find the docs on regex anywhere on the web.

[iOliverC]

Originally posted by hayesk:
Do you use Obj-C in Cocoa? If so, then you already use C. Include the header, and call the functions whenever you need to parse something. You should be able to find the docs on regex anywhere on the web.

I did a 'man regex' in the Terminal and gave it a read. Seems I have to do:

#include <regex.h>

I also realised there are 4 functions, but I only need to use 2. I seem to need to provide regcomp with a regular expression string, it will then transform that into a internally structured correct one. I then need to pass that and the string I want to parse into regexec.

I understand all the theory work, but I'm still at a lost as to how to use these functions, for example, in Obj-C, I would do something like:

NSString *hello = [regex parseString:@"hello" withExpression:expression];

Any sort of C method example could help

Thanks,
Oliver