Re: [boost] std::string algorithms and regular expressions

From: John Maddock (John_Maddock_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-06-13 07:06:36

>My guess is that others also have interesting functions they might 
>contribute.  But before that we need to be sure we know how regular 
>expressions are going to be overloaded (or whatever) so that they 
>interoperate smoothly with strings.  I'll be interested in hearing John 
>Maddock's views on that.  Ditto case insensitive issues.

I don't see that as an issue - just define the algorithms you want and then
overload for boost::reg_expression<> as well as std::basic_string<>.
( probably in a  separate header to avoid getting all the regex stuff if
you don't need it).

Case insensitivity is easier for regex's as that's a property of the regex,
where as for the string case you need to do something different (and maybe
provide the algorithm with a locale to use).  We should be able to extend
these to other types of patterns too (wildcards or fuzzy strings etc) -
it's hard to come up with a good way to do this - I had a dabble, see the
pattern_matching directory in the boost files sectio -, but never took it
any further...

- John Maddock
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/john_maddock/