Regular Expression
Regular Expression (Regex) is a sequence of characters that defines a search pattern, primarily used for string matching, validation, and text manipulation. It provides a concise and flexible means to identify, extract, or replace specific patterns within text data, such as email addresses, phone numbers, or keywords. Regex is implemented as a feature in many programming languages and tools, enabling efficient text processing across various applications.
Developers should learn Regex for tasks involving text parsing, data validation, and search operations, such as form input validation, log file analysis, or data cleaning in scripts. It is essential in scenarios like web scraping, where extracting structured information from unstructured text is required, or in configuration files for pattern-based filtering. Regex processing is widely used in programming, database queries, and command-line tools to handle complex text patterns efficiently.