Introduction

Being a Linux user and not coming across Regular Expressions or regex is next to impossible. I kept seeing the cryptic little set of characters everywhere and the people who could use it looked like ninjas to me. They are everywhere text editor's, JavaScript, Python, JAVA , Bash……and the list goes on.

What Exactly is a Regular Expression?

A regular expression is a string containing a combination of normal characters and special meta-characters or meta-sequences. The normal characters match themselves. Meta-characters and meta-sequences are characters or sequences of characters that represent ideas such as quantity, locations,or types of characters.