Grep & Regex

[grep search=regexp&replace=regexp] Any Text [/grep]copy

Example WebDNA code:

[grep search=([0-9]*-[0-9]*)&replace=<strong>\1</strong>]
  Hi, my phone number is 555-1234, and I'd like you to call me
[/grep]copy

Results:
Hi, my phone number is 555-1234, and I'd like you to call me

Using 'ignorecase' parameter in [grep] context. Search for 'usa' and replace with 'USA'

Example WebDNA code:

[grep search=usa&replace=USA&ignorecase=T]
I was born in the usA
I was born in the uSa
I was born in the Usa
[/grep]

Results:
I was born in the USA
I was born in the USA
I was born in the USA

Removing html tags from text

Example WebDNA code:

[grep search=(<[a-z]*>[^<>]*<\/[a-z]*>|<[a-z]*>)&replace=]
  <script>remove the code that's here 1</script> but not here 1 <br> <hr>
  <script>remove the code that's here 2</script> but not here 2 <br> <hr>
  <script>remove the code that's here 3</script> but not here 3 <br> <hr>
[/grep]copy

Results:
but not here 1 but not here 2 but not here 3

Grep is perhaps one of the most powerful and least understood features of WebDNA. The version of grep that is used in WebDNA is a very basic version, similar to UNIX's egrep. Here are a few tips.

Characters to Use in Search Patterns

Character Typed	What it Represents	Example
any character	represents the character typed, with the exception of the special characters defined below	a represents a, b represents b, etc.
. (dot)	any character (except line breaks)	will match c, 3, space, etc.
#	any digit	will match 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9
\d	any digit	will match 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 (same as #)
\D	any non digit	will match anything except 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 (anything not matched by \d)
^	beginning of line
$	end of line
\t	tab
\r	line break (return)
\n	newline	matches a Unix line break (line feed)
\f	form feed
\s	whitespace	matches any whitespace character (space, tab, line break, newline, form feed)
\S	non whitespace	matches any non whitespace character (anything not matched by \s)
\w	word character	matches any word character. According to the release notes: "A word is any run of non-word-break characters bounded by word breaks. Word characters in the ASCII range are generally alphanumeric, and characters whose value is greater than 127 are also considered word characters." Typically this is letters, numbers, and underscores, but also includes some other characters you might not cosinder word characters.
\W	non word character	matches any non word character (anything not matched by \w)
\character	represents a character that is normally a special character	\\ means \, \. means ., etc.
[any series of characters]	represents any of the characters inside the brackets	[abc] represents an a, b, or c
[any character-another character]	represents any characters within the range of characters specified	[a-c] represents a, b, or c
[^any series of characters]	represents any character except the ones specified after the ^	[^c3] represents any character except c or 3
Special characters	Special characters in search patterns that need to be escaped with a \ are: .#^$\?+*|[]() Inside []'s, you also need to escape - In replacement patterns, only the following characters need escaping: &\.

Some specific operators used by [regex] will be interpreted by WebDNA, like "%2B" or "%26" for instance. In this case, it is safer to [url][/url] the operator like in the following

Example WebDNA code:

[text]value=\b0%2B[/text]
[regex search=[value]&replace=]080.010.001.305[/regex]copy

or

[text]value=\b0+[/text]
[regex search=[url][value][/url]&replace=]080.010.001.305[/regex]copy

Results: both will show 80.10.1.305