Regex.ai
AI
regex generator
SHOW HN2023
294points
123comments
#152of 3,109 in 2023
Top 5%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
RoastedHalf or more of the comments are critical
3 positive, 11 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 37 critical, out of 54 comments about the project. Thread score -0.61.
Idea: 3 for, 18 againstExecution: 0 for, 17 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful tool for novices; good project and implementation
From 3 comments
Very useful tool for novices, though I'd assume experts will much rather write one themselves... P.S. assuming the poster is scanning the comments, typo in the site title:…
epaga on HNThis is a really nice implementation, so full credit to the creator. Regex is always confusing to compose, but it's also one of those situations where I can't help but wonder if…
benrutter on HNimo using chatgpt for generating regex is better, good project although
wahidislam on HN
Objections
Generated regexes fail basic tests and don't match the sample text
From 4 comments
Usually when you have an AI like this that is supposed to generate verifiable results, you do an adversarial test where you ask it to solve problems that you already know the…
jedberg on HNI tried it with the default example, and it couldn't match only the street names. How does this work under the hood?
mikeponders on HNThe most basic check - that the suggestions are working - is missing
eviks on HNI was curious if this would be smart enough to generate a regex for any four letter word so I copied the tagline of the site and highlighted all four letter words in it. (I have…
tomashubelbauer on HN
No explanation or verification of generated patterns
From 1 comment
> Regex.ai is an AI-powered tool that generates regular expressions. Or, just write regular expressions? > ... Regex.ai's intuitive interface makes it easy to input sample text…
AdieuToLogic on HN
Too many LLM tools; hand-written regex or ChatGPT is simpler
From 3 comments
It's nice and there are use cases for it, but if I ever need something like it, I'll prolly just explain what I want to ChatGPT and tell it what regexp engine I'm using, and…
rpigab on HNTo be honest I find ChatGPT sufficient for regex. I usually ask it for test cases that I can then validate in a regex playground to make the regex is working as expected.
alexnew on HNimo using chatgpt for generating regex is better, good project although
wahidislam on HN
Overfitting and unreadable output
From 3 comments
> Regex.ai is an AI-powered tool that generates regular expressions. Or, just write regular expressions? > ... Regex.ai's intuitive interface makes it easy to input sample text…
AdieuToLogic on HNHonestly, writing a regex is way easier than reading a regex, no? So it feels like now I have the harder task of proving that the generated regex is correct.
ar9av on HNThe input isn’t rich enough to generate generalizable regexes (regecies?). Would probably be better off with a text input explaining what the user wants to match. Text-to-regex…
clbrmbr on HN
Unclear whether it is truly AI and what model is used
From 2 comments
How is this AI rather than just string logic? What model was trained? Trained on what? Maybe producthunt would be a better place to post promos?
mmaunder on HNThis looks like a great tool, I would like to ask if it really is AI-powered? AI is a term that's been heavily co-opted by the expert systems crowd, especially when marketing…
mr_gibbins on HN
Requests
Add verification that generated regexes match input text
From 2 comments
I was curious if this would be smart enough to generate a regex for any four letter word so I copied the tagline of the site and highlighted all four letter words in it. (I have…
tomashubelbauer on HNThe most basic check - that the suggestions are working - is missing
eviks on HN
Explain what each generated pattern does
From 2 comments
> Regex.ai is an AI-powered tool that generates regular expressions. Or, just write regular expressions? > ... Regex.ai's intuitive interface makes it easy to input sample text…
AdieuToLogic on HNThere are tools that somewhat explain what each part of a regex does.
6510 on HN
Explain how the tool works under the hood
From 2 comments
It's nice and there are use cases for it, but if I ever need something like it, I'll prolly just explain what I want to ChatGPT and tell it what regexp engine I'm using, and…
rpigab on HNThis doesn't seem to generate great regex, but it does seem to generally work(ish?) so I guess nobody would care. That said, how's this work? Are you just sending this off to one…
libraryatnight on HN
Questions
Is the input data sent to an AI API and how is it handled
From 1 comment
This doesn't seem to generate great regex, but it does seem to generally work(ish?) so I guess nobody would care. That said, how's this work? Are you just sending this off to one…
libraryatnight on HN
How does it compare to GPT-4
From 1 comment
How is this compare to GPT-4? I am using it to write regex all the time nowadays.
karmasimida on HN
Alternatives named
ChatGPT / GPT-4
From 3 comments
The results I got from this were unfortunately not useful. For example in trying to extract the property names from a connection string, I highlighted all of the property names…
gbro3n on HNTo be honest I find ChatGPT sufficient for regex. I usually ask it for test cases that I can then validate in a regex playground to make the regex is working as expected.
alexnew on HNHow is this compare to GPT-4? I am using it to write regex all the time nowadays.
karmasimida on HN
regex-generator by Olaf Neumann and grex
From 2 comments
If you would like to generate a regular expression by giving an example input text and an example output match, you could use this closed form solution tool:-…
textread on HNRelated: https://github.com/pemistahl/grex
_andrei_ on HN