String Patterns

This library makes it easier to work with regular expressions in Rust. It builds on the standard regular expression crate, regex. It has no other dependencies, but supplements simple-string-patterns, which provides an assortment of regex-free extension methods to match, split and filter strings by character types or ranges, relying only on the standard library.

Together, these crates aim to make working with strings as easy in Rust as it is Javascript or Python with cleaner syntax. Simpler string matching methods such as starts_with, contains or ends_with will always perform better, especially when processing large data sets.

The core PatternMatch and PatternReplace traits are implemented for arrays or vectors of strings to avoid compiling a regular expression in a loop. You may need to reimplement these for vectors of custom structs as shown in the example below. Simply calling my_string.pattern_match_ci("complex_regex") in a loop is an anti-pattern leading to expensive recompilation of the same regular expression. The same principle applies to replacement methods, implemented only for String and Vec<String>.

Version 0.3.8 introduces variant _replace_first methods to replace only the left-most match in a sample string, implementing re.replace rather than re.replace_all. This is faster when you only need to replace one matched pattern per string.

Method overview

Version 0.3.4 adds a PatternFilter with methods that filter arrays or vectors of strings or strs by a regex pattern with variants for whole word and case-insensitive matches. This mirrors the functionality in filter_all_conditional in simple-string-patterns, but with a single regular expression rather than a set of rules.

Since version 0.3.0, the crate only includes the core text-processing extensions that rely on regular expressions. Other methods bundled with earlier versions have migrated to the simple-string-patterns crate. These crates supplement each other, but may be independently installed if you only need some of their features.

In case-insensitive mode the non-capturing /(?i)/ flag is prepended automatically, but omitted if you add another non-capturing group at the start of your regular expression. The _ci suffix is the equivalent of the i modifier in /my_complex_regex/i as used in Javascript, Perl and many command line tools.

In every other way, the pattern-prefixed methods behave like re.is_match, re.replace_all, re.replace, re.find and re.capture_iter methods in the Regex crate. String-patterns unleashes most of the core functionality of the Regex crate, on which it depends, to cover most common use cases in text processing and to act as a building block for specific validators (e.g. email validation) and text transformers.

Case Sensitivity

Most match methods will work on &str and String, while replacement methods are only implemented for owned strings. Likewise, match methods are implemented for arrays and vectors of strings or string slices, while replacement methods are only implemented for vectors of owned strings. The traits may be implemented for structs or tuples with a string field.

Regular expression match in standard Rust with the Regex library

fn is_valid_time_string(input: &str) -> bool {
  let time_format_pattern = r#"^([01]\d|2[0-3])?:[0-5]\d(:[0-5]\d)?$"#;
  if let Ok(re) = Regex::new(time_format_pattern) {
    re.is_match(input)
  } else {
    false
  }
}

More concise syntax with the string-patterns library

fn is_valid_time_string(input: &str) -> bool {
  input.pattern_match_cs(r#"^([01]\d|2[0-3])?:[0-5]\d(:[0-5]\d)?$"#)
}

Sample replacement in standard Rust with the Regex library

fn replace_final_os(input: &str) -> String {
  let regex_str = r#"(\w)o\b"#;
  if let Ok(re) = Regex::new(regex_str) {
    re.replace_all(input, "${1}um").to_string()
  } else {
    input.to_string()
  }
}

More concise syntax with the string-patterns library

fn replace_final_os(input: &str) -> String {
  // case-insensitive replacement,
  // NB: the regex syntax and capture rules are enforced by the Regex library
  input.to_string().pattern_replace_ci(r#"(\w)o\b"#, "${1}um") 
}

Replace the first match only

  let sample_path = "/User/me/Documents/Accounts/docs/2023/earnings-report.pdf".to_string();
  // should match any segment between / characters starting with 'doc' and ending in 's'
  let pattern = r#"/doc[^/]*s/"#;
  let replacement = r#"/files/"#;
  // Only replace the first segment matching the above pattern case-insensitively
  let new_path_1 = sample_path.pattern_replace_first_ci(pattern, replacement);
  // should yield = "/User/me/files/Accounts/docs/2023/earnings-report.pdf"
  // replace all matches. Will replace /docs/ as well as /Documents/
  let new_path_2 = sample_path.pattern_replace_ci(pattern, replacement);
  // should yield = "/User/me/files/Accounts/files/2023/earnings-report.pdf"

Extract the first match from a string

let str_1 = "The park has many lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, giraffes, cheetahs and baboons";
if let Some(matched_item) = str_1.pattern_first_match(r#"\bspotted\s+\w+\b"#, true) {
  println!("`{}` occurs between positions {} and {}", matched_item.as_str(), matched_item.start(), matched_item.end());
}

Match within an array of strings

let sample_strs = [
  "pictures_Italy-1997",
  "photos-portugal-2001",
  "imagini-italia_2002",
  "images-france-2003",
];
let test_pattern = r#"[^a-z]ital(y|ia)"#; // matches 'italy' or 'italia'
// The regular expression will only be compiled once
if sample_strs.pattern_match_ci(test_pattern) {
  println!("Some of these folders are related to Italy");
}

// Filter the above array
let filtered_strs = sample_strs.pattern_matches_filtered_ci(test_pattern);
// should yield ["pictures_Italy-1997","imagini-italia_2002"]

Count matches of a pattern

let sample_text = r#"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
          Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
          All the king's horses and all the king's men
          Couldn't put Humpty together again."#;
  let sample_word = "humpty";
  // count the number of whole words in case-insensitive mode
  let num_occurrences = sample_text.count_word("humpty", true);
  println!("{} occurs {} times in the above text", sample_word, num_occurrences );

Replace text in a vector of strings

let sample_strings = ["apples", "bananas", "carrots", "dates"].to_strings(); /// cast to vector of owned strings
let pattern = r#"a([pr])"#;
let replacement = "æ$1";
// With arrays or vectors the regex need only be compiled once
// case-insensitive replacement
let new_strings = sample_strings.pattern_replace_ci(pattern, replacement); 
/// should yield the strings "æpples", "bananas", "cærrots", "dates"
/// only replacing 'a' with 'æ' before 'p' or 'r'

Replace multiple pattern/replacement pairs

let source_str = "Colourful fishing boats adorned the island's harbours.".to_string();
  let pattern_replacements = [
    ("colour", "color"),
    ("harbour", "harbor"),
  ];
/// Should read "Colorful fishing boats adorned the island's harbors"
let target_str = source_str.pattern_replace_pairs_cs(&pattern_replacements); 
// NB: Prior to version 0.2.19  this was pattern_replace_pairs()
// which now requires a second parameter

Filter an array or vector of strings by a regex pattern

let source_strs = [
  "Ristorante-Venezia-2019.jpg",
  "Mercado_venecia_2000.jpg",
  "Mercado_venezuela_2011.jpg",
  "Venice_Oct_2012.png",
  "2venice2003.jpg",
  "venetian_blinds.jpg",
];

/// filter by file names referencing Venice in various languages, but not Venezuela or venetian blinds
let pattern = "ven(ezia|ecia|edig|ice|ise)[^a-z]*";

let filtered_strs = source_strs.pattern_filter_ci(pattern); 
// should yield ["Ristorante-Venezia-2019.jpg", "Mercado_venecia_2000.jpg", "Venice_Oct_2012.png", "2venice2003.jpg"]

Replace multiple word pairs in case-sensitive mode

/// This should have the same result as above but with cleaner and less error-prone syntax
let source_str = "The dying King Edmund decides to try to save Lear and Cordelia.";
  let pattern_replacements = [
    ("Edmund", "Edward"),
    ("Lear", "Larry"),
    ("Cordelia", "Cecilia")
  ];
/// Should read "The dying King Edward decides to try to save Larry and Cecilia."
let target_str = source_str.to_string().replace_words_cs(&pattern_replacements); 

Match any words in case-insensitive mode

let source_str = "Two cheetahs ran across the field";
let cat_like_words = [
  "lions?","tigers?", "pumas?",
  "panthers?", "jaguars?", "leopards?",
  "lynx(es)?", "cheetahs?"
];
if source_str.match_any_words_ci(&cat_like_words) {
  println!("`{}` is related to cats", source_str);
}

Split a string on a pattern

let sample_string = "books, records and videotapes";
let pattern = r#"\s*(,|and)\s"#;
 // case-insensitive split
let items = sample_string.pattern_split_ci(pattern);
// should yield a vector of strings: vec!["books", "records", "videotapes"]

Split a string into head / tail pair (case-sensitively)

let sample_string = "first / second - third ; fourth";
let pattern = r#"\s*[/;-]\s*"#;
// case-sensitive split
let (head, tail) = sample_string.pattern_split_pair_cs(pattern); 
// should yield => head: "first" and tail: "second - third ; fourth"

Fetch a vector of pattern match objects with start and end indices as well as the captured substrings.

let sample_string = "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.";
// Words ending in 'men' with 0 to 4 preceding characters. the sequence in parentheses is an inner capture.
let pattern = r#"\b\w{0,4}(men)\b"#;
let outer_matches = sample_string.pattern_matches_outer(pattern,true);
// should yield a vector with the outer matches only, but with with start and end offsets
if let Some(second_match) = outer_matches.get(1) {
  println!("the second match '{}'' starts at {} and ends at {}", second_match.as_str(), second_match.start(), second_match.end());
  // should print the matched word 'woman' and its start and end indices
}

let all_captures = sample_string.pattern_captures(pattern, true);
/// Yields an iterable regex::Captures object with all nested captured groups

Extract three float values from a longer string

This example requires the simple-string-patterns crate.

let input_str = "-78.29826, 34.15 160.9";
// the pattern expects valid decimal numbers separated by commas and/or one or more spaces
let split_pattern = r#"(\s*,\s*|\s+)"#;

let numbers: Vec<f64> = input_str.pattern_split_cs(split_pattern)
    .into_iter().map(|s| s.to_first_number::<f64>())
    .filter(|nr| nr.is_some())
    .map(|s| s.unwrap()).collect();
// yields a vector of three f64 numbers [-78.29826, 34.15, 160.9];

Sample implementations of PatternMatch and PatternFilter for a custom struct

use string_patterns::PatternMatch;

// Simple struct with a core text field
#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
pub struct Message {
  text: String,
  timestamp: i64,
  from: String,
  to: String,
}

impl PatternMatch for Message {
  // All other pattern_match variants with a single regular expression are implemented automatically
  fn pattern_match_result(&self, pattern: &str, case_insensitive: bool) -> Result<bool, Error> {
    self.text.pattern_match_result(pattern, case_insensitive)
  }
}

/// The regular expression is compiled only once. If the regex fails, all items are returned
impl<'a> PatternFilter<'a, Message> for [Message] {
  fn pattern_filter(&'a self, pattern: &str, case_insensitive: bool) -> Vec<Message> {
    if let Ok(re) = build_regex(pattern, case_insensitive) {
    self.into_iter().filter(|m| re.is_match(&m.text)).map(|m| m.to_owned()).collect::<Vec<Message>>()
    } else {
      self.to_owned()
    }
  }
}

Traits

Enums

• WordBounds: Has options for Start, End and Both with a method to render regular expression subpatterns with the correct word boundaries Options:
  • None: No bounds
  • Start: From word start
  • End: To word end
  • Both: Whole word, but spaces or other punctuation may occur within the pattern to match one or more words

Dev Notes

Version 0.3.8 adds variant pattern_replace_first_result and pattern_replace_first methods. These are implemented for String and Vec, but need to be reimplemented for custom structs or collection types. Only the _ci and _cs variants have default implementations.

As of version 0.3.8 the crate re-exports Regex::Captures and Regex::Match to help with custom implementations.

As of version 0.3.6, the crate re-exports regex::Regex and regex::Error to help with custom implementations

As of version 0.3.0, this crate is nearly feature complete, although still in a beta stage. All new features will be in a future string-patterns-extras crate that builds on this library and simple-string-patterns. 0.3.5 has no new features, only a more notes and a few more methods have default implementations.

Notes for the 0.2.* series can be found in the GitHub repo in the v0.2.* branch. If you upgrade from a pre-0.3.0 version, you may need to install simple-string-patterns as well.

Removed methods

Only one regex method, *match_words_by_proximity, has been removed. However, it may reappear in a future string-patterns-extras crate.

NB: Some updates reflect editorial changes only.