Mastering Regular Expressions (2nd Edition) [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 9. .NET

Microsoft's .NET Framework, usable with Visual Basic, C#, and C++ (among other
languages), offers a shared regular-expression library that unifies regex semantics
among the languages. It's a full-featured, powerful engine that allows you the
maximum flexibility in balancing speed and convenience.

Each language has a different syntax for handling objects and methods, but those
underlying objects and methods are the same regardless of the language, so even
complex examples shown in one language directly translate to the other languages
of the .NET language suite. Examples in this chapter are shown with Visual Basic.

In This Chapter Before looking at what's in this chapter, it's important to emphasize
that this chapter relies heavily on the base material in Chapters 1 through 6. I
understand that some readers interested only in .NET may be inclined to start their
reading with this chapter, and I want to encourage them not to miss the benefits of
the preface (in particular, the typographical conventions) and the earlier chapters:
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 introduce basic concepts, features, and techniques involved
with regular expressions, while Chapters 4, 5, and 6 offer important keys to regex
understanding that directly apply to .NET's regex engine.

This chapter first looks at .NET's regex flavor, including which metacharacters are
supported and how,[1] as well as the special issues that await the .NET programmer.
Then there's a quick overview of .NET's regex-related object model, and how it's
been designed to allow you to wield a regex, followed by a detailed look at each
of the core regex-related classes. It all ends with an example of how to build a
personal regex library by encapsulating pre-built regular expressions into a shared
assembly.

[1] This book covers .NET "Version 2002." While researching this book, I uncovered a few bugs, which
Microsoft tells me will be fixed in the 2004 release of .NET.