Requirements
- Target platform
- OpenClaw
- Install method
- Manual import
- Extraction
- Extract archive
- Prerequisites
- OpenClaw
- Primary doc
- SKILL.md
Write correct, efficient regular expressions across different engines.
Write correct, efficient regular expressions across different engines.
Hand the extracted package to your coding agent with a concrete install brief instead of figuring it out manually.
I downloaded a skill package from Yavira. Read SKILL.md from the extracted folder and install it by following the included instructions. Tell me what you changed and call out any manual steps you could not complete.
I downloaded an updated skill package from Yavira. Read SKILL.md from the extracted folder, compare it with my current installation, and upgrade it while preserving any custom configuration unless the package docs explicitly say otherwise. Summarize what changed and any follow-up checks I should run.
.* is greedy—matches as much as possible; .*? is lazy—matches minimum Greedy often overshoots: <.*> on <a>b</a> matches entire string, not <a> Default quantifiers + * {n,} are greedy—add ? for lazy: +? *? {n,}?
Metacharacters need escape: \. \* \+ \? \[ \] \( \) \{ \} \| \\ \^ \$ Inside character class []: only ], \, ^, - need escape (and ^ only at start, - only mid) Literal backslash: \\ in regex, but in strings often need \\\\ (double escape)
^ start, $ end—but behavior changes with multiline flag Multiline mode: ^ $ match line starts/ends; without, only string start/end \A always string start, \Z always string end (not all engines) Word boundary \b matches position, not character—\bword\b for whole words
[abc] matches one of a, b, c; [^abc] matches anything except a, b, c Ranges: [a-z] [0-9]—but [a-Z] is invalid (ASCII order matters) Shorthand: \d digit, \w word char, \s whitespace; uppercase negates: \D \W \S . matches any char except newline—use [\s\S] for truly any, or s flag if available
Capturing () vs non-capturing (?:)—use (?:) when you don't need backreference Named groups: (?<name>...) or (?P<name>...) depending on engine Backreferences: \1 \2 refer to captured groups in same pattern Groups also establish scope for alternation: cat|dog vs ca(t|d)og
Positive lookahead (?=...): assert what follows, don't consume Negative lookahead (?!...): assert what doesn't follow Positive lookbehind (?<=...): assert what precedes Negative lookbehind (?<!...): assert what doesn't precede Lookbehinds must be fixed-width in most engines—no * or + inside
i case-insensitive, m multiline (^$ match lines), g global (find all) s (dotall): . matches newline—not supported everywhere u unicode: enables \p{} properties, proper surrogate handling Flags syntax varies: /pattern/flags (JS), (?flags) inline, or function arg (Python re.I)
JavaScript: no lookbehind until ES2018; no \A \Z; no possessive quantifiers Python re: uses (?P<name>) for named groups; no \p{} without regex module PCRE (PHP, grep -P): full features; possessive ++ *+; recursive patterns Go: RE2 engine, no backreferences, no lookahead—guaranteed linear time
Catastrophic backtracking: (a+)+ against aaaaaaaaaab is exponential—avoid nested quantifiers Possessive quantifiers ++ *+ prevent backtracking—use when backtracking pointless Atomic groups (?>...) don't give back chars—similar to possessive Anchor patterns when possible—^prefix is O(1), unanchored prefix is O(n)
Email validation: RFC-compliant regex is 6000+ chars—use simple check or library URL matching: edge cases are endless—use URL parser, regex for quick extraction only Don't use regex for HTML/XML—use a parser; regex can't handle nesting Forgetting to escape user input—regex injection is real; use literal escaping functions
Test edge cases: empty string, special chars, unicode, very long input Visualize with tools: regex101.com shows matches and explains Check which engine documentation you're reading—features vary significantly
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