"Regular Expressions"

Definition: Regular Expressions: A regular expression is a sequence of characters that forms a template used to search for strings [Words, phrases, or just about any sequence of characters. ] within text. In other words, it is a search pattern. To get an idea of when you would need to do this, consider the example of having a list of names and telephone numbers. If you want to find a telephone number that contains a 3 in the second place and ends with an 8, regular expressions provide a way of doing that kind of search. Or consider the case where you would like to send an email to fifty people, replacing the word after the ``Dear'' with their own name to make the letter more personal. Regular expressions allow for this type of searching and replacing. From Rute-Users-Guide

* Linux/Unix/Computing Glossary