Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey (RegEx) are an amazing tool to have in your toolbox! The simplest definition I have found of Reg Ex are: “Symbols that describe a Text Pattern”. It is more than likely that you’ve used them in the past. Here are a few examples where you have probably used them:
- Using * or ? when looking for a file in Windows Explorer
- Validate format ( email, phone number, zip code, two-letter state abbreviation)
- Search & replace text in files
- Count # of times pattern exists
- Find duplicate words
In this intro video I give a high-level overview using Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey. The video demonstrates pattern matching by using Expressive by Alguimist. There are several other tools specifically written in / for AutoHotkey however this one is pretty simple and does 99% of what you’ll need. You also might use RegEx101 or hifi RegEx for aiding your pattern matching.
RegEx 101- Regular Expressions in AutoHotkey
