RE: Why are RegExps never working?

[Drew Adams]

> >> If you're having a hard time learning how regexps work, then
> >> regex-tool seems like a great learning aid:
> >>
> >>   ftp://ftp.newartisans.com/pub/regex-tool.el
> >>
> >> I've only tried it for a couple of minutes, but it looks really
> >> useful.
> >
> > Thank you for the suggestion. I've installed regex-tool and I have the
> > impression that it's a good way to become familiar with the topic.
>
> just what I was looking for!!! Wonderful, thanks too!

Yes, nice.

Another tool that can help is Icicles search. Highlighting lets you see just
how your regexp groups match, for each search hit. Here is an example with
five nested regexp groups (screenshot with explanation):

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/Icicles_-_Search_Commands%2c_Overview#
SearchHighlightingContextLevels.