Regular Expressions ("RegEx") are a powerful tool in any developer's toolbox, but wrapping your mind around its cryptic syntax can be difficult. Anchors, quantifiers, and capture groups? What does it all mean?!

This talk introduces the basic concepts and syntax of RegEx, focusing on the types of patterns developers may see every day. We'll discuss when and where RegEx is a great choice and ??perhaps more importantly ??where RegEx can cause a world of pain. Attendees will walk away with a greater understanding of how Regular Expressions work and can benefit their projects, regardless of language.

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Great run through of useful basic regex in PHP! Really wanted it to dial up to 11 for the last 5-10 minutes and watch some brains explode. 😅

I enjoyed this. I used RegEx a lot (more than I should), and I think this has a bunch of great examples, and I would suggest it to anyone who needs to get started.

Diana Pham at 19:40 on 21 May 2026

Fantastic way to teach foundational concepts!

Bill Tressler at 10:57 on 23 May 2026

Another fantastic Grunwell talk. Just the right ratio of usable info and snark. I’d consider my regex skills above average, but how I didn’t know (at least consciously) that uppercase was a negation is baffling.

A great talk from Steve. Really enjoyable run through of RegEx. I'm inspired to up my RegEx game