Using Regular Expressions

Using Regular Expressions How you use regular expression depends on the specific application you're using. In most languages, such as Perl or PHP, you use a function in the language that compares the regular expression to a string, returning a value meaning the string matched or didn't match. In many applications with a GUI, such as OpenOffice, you type the regular expression into a field. Each application has its own method for regular expression input. In many cases, you use characters to indicate the beginning and end of the regular expression. The characters that specify the beginning and end are called delimiters. In some applications, you can specify what delimiter you want to use. Forward slashes (/) and quotation marks are often used as delimiters.