https://github.com/vitor-mariano/regex-tui
A simple TUI to visualize regular expressions right in your terminal.
https://github.com/vitor-mariano/regex-tui
Last synced: 5 months ago
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A simple TUI to visualize regular expressions right in your terminal.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/vitor-mariano/regex-tui
- Owner: vitor-mariano
- License: mit
- Created: 2025-10-11T22:46:49.000Z (8 months ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2026-01-10T12:45:54.000Z (5 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-01-10T23:21:26.267Z (5 months ago)
- Language: Go
- Size: 1.07 MB
- Stars: 286
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 5
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: readme.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
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README
# Regex TUI
A terminal user interface (TUI) application for testing and visualizing regular expressions in real-time.
## Features
- Interactive regex editor with live validation
- RE2 engine by default; [regexp2](https://github.com/dlclark/regexp2) option with partial PCRE compatibility
- Multi-line text input for testing
- Visual highlighting of regex matches with alternating colors
- Real-time feedback as you type the expression
- Clean and intuitive terminal interface
- Tab navigation between regex and text inputs
- Options dialog for toggling global and case-insensitive flags
## Demo
## Installation
### Using go install
The simplest way to install regex-tui is using `go install`:
```bash
go install github.com/vitor-mariano/regex-tui@latest
```
This will install the binary to your `$HOME/go/bin` directory. Make sure this directory is in your `PATH`.
### Arch Linux
regex-rui is available on Arch Linux through AUR. You can use [yay](https://github.com/Jguer/yay) or any other AUR helper you prefer:
```bash
yay -S regex-tui
```
### Manual Installation with Make
Clone the repository and use Make to build and install:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/vitor-mariano/regex-tui.git
cd regex-tui
make install
```
This will compile the application and install it to `$GOPATH/bin/regex-tui`.
## Requirements
- Go 1.25 or later
## Usage
Simply run the command:
```bash
regex-tui
```
The application will launch in full-screen mode with:
- A regex pattern input field at the top (starts with example pattern `[A-Z]\w+`)
- A text input area below (starts with example text "Hello World!")
- Matches highlighted in alternating yellow and blue colors
### Command-Line Options
regex-tui supports several command-line flags to customize the initial state:
#### Available Flags
| Flag | Shorthand | Description |
| --------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `--regex` | `-r` | Initial regex pattern |
| `--text` | `-t` | Initial text subject |
| `--empty` | `-e` | Start with empty expression and text |
| `--no-global` | | Disable global flag (match only first occurrence) |
| `--insensitive` | | Enable case-insensitive flag |
| `--regexp2` | | Use regexp2 engine (partial PCRE compatibility) |
**Notes:**
- When reading from stdin, the `--text` / `-t` flag cannot be used and will result in an error.
#### Examples
```bash
# Custom regex with empty text
regex-tui -e -r "[A-Z]\w+"
# Custom regex and text
regex-tui -r "\d{3}-\d{4}" -t "Call me at 555-1234"
# Case-insensitive matching (global is enabled by default)
regex-tui -r "error" -t "Error: invalid input" --insensitive
# Match only first occurrence
regex-tui -r "foo" -t "foo bar foo" --no-global
# Use regexp2 engine with lookahead
regex-tui -r "foo(?=bar)" -t "foobar foobaz" --regexp2
# Piped text with custom regex
cat log.txt | regex-tui -r "ERROR.*"
# All flags combined
cat file.txt | regex-tui -r "\w+" --no-global --insensitive --regexp2
```
### Keyboard Shortcuts
- **Tab**: Switch between regex input and text input
- **Ctrl+P**: Open the options dialog to toggle regex flags
- **Ctrl+O**: Open text content in an external editor (uses `$EDITOR` environment variable)
- **Esc** or **Ctrl+C**: Exit the application
## Roadmap
- Visualize whitespaces
- Add mouse support
## Development
Other available make targets:
```bash
make run # Run without installing
make build # Build the binary locally in bin/regex-tui
make debug # Build with debug flags and run locally
make clean # Remove built binary
make uninstall # Remove installed binary from $GOPATH/bin
make lint # Run go vet and go fmt
make demo # Generate demo GIF using vhs
```
## License
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.