regexp

regexp
 /reg'eksp/, n.

   [Unix] (alt.: regex or reg-ex)

   1. Common written and spoken abbreviation for regular expression, one
   of the wildcard patterns used, e.g., by Unix utilities such as
   grep(1), sed(1), and awk(1). These use conventions similar to but more
   elaborate than those described under {glob}. For purposes of this
   lexicon, it is sufficient to note that regexps also allow complemented
   character sets using ^; thus, one can specify `any non-alphabetic
   character' with [^A-Za-z].

   2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling package in portable C,
   written by revered Usenetter Henry Spencer.
    

regexp

   1. {regular expression}.

   2. Name of a well-known PD regexp-handling package in portable
   C, written by revered {Usenet}ter Henry Spencer
   <[email protected]>.

   [{Jargon File}]