Regex

The Regex module is available via require "pluto:regex" and provides Soup's flavor of the popular string matching language.

regex.new

Parses a pattern and creates an instance for it.

Parameters

1. The regex to be compiled. Note that this must be a full pattern with a start and end delimiter (commonly /). Flags may optionally be present after the end delimiter.

Returns

A pattern instance.

regex.match

Attempt to match a pattern instance.

Parameters

1. The pattern instance.

Returns

A table with an index/key for each matching group or nil if no matches.

pluto
local regex = require "pluto:regex"
local pattern = new regex [[/^the (?:(.+) )?one$/]]
print(dumpvar(pattern:match("the one")))
--> {
-->     [0] = string(7) "the one",
--> }
print(dumpvar(pattern:match("the chosen one")))
--> {
-->     [1] = string(6) "chosen",
-->     [0] = string(14) "the chosen one",
--> }
print(pattern:match("not the one"))
--> nil

The overall pattern match is in index 0, and in this case there is only the 1 capturing group, that being (.+).

Capture group names will be used if available:

pluto
local regex = require "pluto:regex"
local pattern = new regex [[/^the (?:(?'what'.+) )?one$/]]
print(dumpvar(pattern:match("the chosen one")))
--> {
-->     [0] = string(14) "the chosen one",
-->     ["what"] = string(6) "chosen",
--> }