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C++: what regex library should I use?


I'm working on a commercial (not open source) C++ project that runs on a linux-based system. I need to do some regex within the C++ code. (I know: I now have 2 problems.)



QUESTION: What libraries do people who regularly do regex from C/C++ recommend I look into? A quick search has brought the following to my attention:



1) Boost.Regex (I need to go read the Boost Software License, but this question is not about software licenses)



2) C (not C++) POSIX regex (#include <regex.h>, regcomp, regexec, etc.)



3) http://freshmeat.net/projects/cpp_regex/ (I know nothing about this one; seems to be GPL, therefore not usable on this project)



Thanks.


Source: Tips4allCCNA FINAL EXAM

Comments

  1. Boost.Regex is very good and is slated to become part of the C++0x standard (it's already in TR1).

    Personally, I find Boost.Xpressive much nicer to work with. It is a header-only library and it has some nice features such as static regexes (regexes compiled at compile time).

    ReplyDelete
  2. In C++ projects past, I have used PCRE with good success. It's very complete and well-tested since it's used in many high profile projects. And I see that Google has contributed a set of C++ wrappers for PCRE recently, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Boost has regex in it.

    That should fill the bill

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for all the suggestions.

    I tried out a few things today, and with the stuff we're trying to do, I opted for the simplest solution where I don't have to download any other 3rd-party library. In the end, I #include <regex.h> and used the standard C POSIX calls regcomp() and regexec(). Not C++, but in a pinch this proved to be the easiest.

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  5. C++ has a builtin regex library since TR1. AFAIK Boost's regex library is very compatible with it and can be used as a replacement, if your standard library doesn't provide TR1.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You can also look at fast regex library that was developed at Yandex search engine for doing fast matches of thousands of patterns against huge amounts of data.

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  7. I faced a similar situation and ended up using Henry Spencers Regexp Engine
    http://www.codeproject.com/KB/string/spencerregexp.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Noone here said anything about the one that comes with C++0x.
    If you are using a compiler and the STL that supports C++0x you could just use that instead of having another lib in your project.

    ReplyDelete

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