NAME String::Random::Regexp::regxstring - Generate random strings from a regular expression VERSION Version 0.01 SYNOPSIS This module provides functionality for generating random strings from a regular expression by bridging to the regxstring C++ library by daidodo via XS. use String::Random::Regexp::regxstring; my $strings = generate_random_strings( '^([A-Z]|[0-9]){10}\d{5}xxx(\d{3})?', 3 ); # generates 3 random strings based on the regexp # 3F3YR2W22947580xxx # N5HHM8LW0K59719xxx957 # G2DQL6JF1E91086xxx # or provide it with a Regexp object my $strings = generate_random_strings( qr/^([A-Z]|[0-9]){10}\d{5}xxx(\d{3})?/, 3 ); # or enable debug my $strings = generate_random_strings( qr/^([A-Z]|[0-9]){10}\d{5}xxx(\d{3})?/, 3, 1 ); EXPORT * generate_random_strings : generates random strings * :all : tag for exporting all available export symbols SUBROUTINES generate_random_strings my $strings = generate_random_strings($regexp, $N, [$debug]) Arguments: * $regexp : a regular expression either as a string or as a Regexp object created via e.g. qr/.../ * $N : the number of random strings to generate. * $debug : optionally enable debug, if set to 1. By default it is turned off. Given a regular expression, this subroutine will generate $N random strings which are guaranteed to be matched by the specified regular expression. The generated random strings will be returned back as an ARRAY ref. undef is returned on error, e.g. when no regular expression was specified or when the number of random strings to generate is not positive. ALTERNATIVES There are at least two alternative modules at CPAN which I have tested. String::Random and Regexp::Genex. Both fail with rudimentary regular expressions. The former does not support groups and therefore all parentheses have to be removed from the regular expression first. But this is not a trivial task. For example: use String::Random qw/random_regex/; print random_regex('[A-HN-SW]\d{7}[A-J]ES[A-HN-SW]\d{7}[A-J](?:xx)?'); # '(' not implemented. treating literally. The latter fails randomly on large regular expressions, e.g. [A-HN-SW]\d{7}[A-J]xxx but succeeds with the shorter [A-HN-SW]\d{7}[A-J] AUTHOR Andreas Hadjiprocopis, DEDICATIONS !Almaz! CAVEATS The XS function for generating random strings accepts the input regular expression as a string. This means that if a Regexp object was supplied to generate_random_strings, the regular expression as a string must be extracted. And this is done by stringifying the Regexp object, e.g. my $str = "".qr/abc/ However, the stringification encloses the regular expression within a (?^: and ). For example: print "".qr/^(abc)/ # prints (?^:^(abc)) Currently, the subroutine will remove this "enclosure". It remains to be seen whether this is 100% successful. I have not tested the statistical distribution of the results in regular expressions like a|b|c|d. They must appear equally often. BUGS Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-string-random-regexp-regxstring at rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at https://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=String-Random-Regexp-regxstring. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes. SUPPORT You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc String::Random::Regexp::regxstring You can also look for information at: * RT: CPAN's request tracker (report bugs here) https://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=String-Random-Regexp-regxstring * Review this module at PerlMonks not yet... * Search CPAN https://metacpan.org/release/String-Random-Regexp-regxstring ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The core functionality to this module is provided by the C++ library for generating random strings from regular expressions located at https://github.com/daidodo. The author is DoZerg / daidodo. The Licence is Apache v2.0. The source code of this library is included in the current module. I have provided C++ harness code, the XS interface and the Perl module. LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT This software is Copyright (c) 2024 by Andreas Hadjiprocopis. This is free software, licensed under: The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)