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Regex Builder
Interactively build, explain, and test regular expressions with examples and edge case validation
regexutilityvalidationparsing
By Claude Code Community
Skill Content
# Regex Builder Skill
Build, test, and debug regular expressions interactively with plain-English explanations and example matches.
## Usage
```
/regex-builder
```
## Behavior
1. Accept a description of what you want to match (or an existing regex to explain)
2. Generate the regex pattern with a step-by-step breakdown
3. Test against provided sample strings or auto-generated examples
4. Highlight matches, capture groups, and edge cases
5. Provide the pattern in multiple flavors if needed (JS, Python, PCRE, Go)
## Features
### Pattern Generation
- Convert plain English descriptions to regex patterns
- Handle common patterns: emails, URLs, IPs, dates, phone numbers
- Support for named capture groups, lookaheads, and lookbehinds
- Generate non-greedy and possessive quantifier variants
### Explanation Mode
- Break down any regex into annotated parts
- Visualize match groups and alternation branches
- Identify potential issues: catastrophic backtracking, unanchored matches
- Suggest simplifications for overly complex patterns
### Testing
- Run pattern against a list of should-match and should-not-match strings
- Show captured groups for each match
- Warn about partial matches vs full-string matches
- Flag common pitfalls (unescaped dots, missing anchors, etc.)
### Output Formats
- Raw pattern string ready to paste
- Language-specific syntax (Python raw strings, JS literal, Go backticks)
- Integration snippets showing the regex in use
## Example
```
/regex-builder match ISO 8601 dates like 2024-01-15T09:30:00Z
```
Generates the pattern with capture groups for date, time, and timezone components.
How to use
- Copy the skill content above
- Create a .claude/skills directory in your project
- Save as .claude/skills/regex-builder.md
- Use /regex-builder in Claude Code to invoke this skill