Grant Skinner
gskinner.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
Grant Skinner, a Flash and HTML5 developer, writes about web development tools, canvas libraries, games and the future of Flash.
What HN saysHN mostly links it for RegExr, his regular expression testing tool, which commenters call the best they have used.
44HN people shared it
29linked it in comments
24stories submitted
134story points
11 years agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1RegExr25 people · 13 points · first shared 2008 · 1 comments on HN
- 2Return of the Blue Lego3 people · 55 points · first shared 2010 · 3 comments on HN
- 3Music Visualizer in HTML5 / JS with Source Code2 people · 5 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 4The Evolution of (Web) Development Tools2 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 5Pirates Love Daisies with HTML52 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 6Grant Skinner on the future of Flash1 people · 26 points · first shared 2010 · 9 comments on HN
- 7Easel JS Simplifies Working with Canvas in HTML51 people · 5 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 8Flash Player Mobile, a Post Mortem.1 people · 5 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 9EaselJS v0.3 Released1 people · 4 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 10Atari Arcade: Classic Games Reimagined in HTML51 people · 4 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 11EaselJS 0.40 released1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 12EaselJS v0.2 Released for HTML5 Canvas1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 13EaselJS v0.3.2 Released1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 14HTML5 Interactive Portal1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · 1 comments on HN
- 15The Case of the Disappearing Number (javascript)1 people · 1 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
gavinlynch · 2013-11-28
I love these types of things. Kudos to the author.
This one in particular reminds me of a tool I've always found useful.
It's an interactive Regex builder just like the one linked in the OP. I would say it's got some additional compelling features: like mouse-over breakdowns of each expression as you build it, a handy reference list as well, but also a community concept and saved expressions. Really, I've never found anything better. My only complaint is that it's flash-based, but it's an amazing tool, so can't really complain too much.
http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
tudborg · 2013-09-03
It doesn't seem to simplify regex, just make it more verbose.
That might be fine, except the people who need to understand how to use it, must already understand the concepts of regexes.
And if you can use this library without understanding regex, you might be better of not using regex at all.
Regex looks complex at first glance, but with a good cheatsheet and tool you should have no problem.
http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ is a great tool for building and testing regexes.
vanmik · 2012-06-21
The best tools out there for regexp testing is http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ - the only flash application i've ever used
spoon16 · 2011-01-19
Also check out. Grant Skinner's blog post about developing Pirates Love Daisies, http://gskinner.com/blog/archives/2010/12/pirates-love-daisies-html5-g…
darragjm · 2011-01-22
My personal favorite:
http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
jbrooksuk · 2015-05-21
RegExr is my go to regular expression playground. I've been using it for many years, back when it was on http://gskinner.com/RegExr
It's evolved a lot since then :)
gpsarakis · 2013-08-04
Pythex looks really nice. I have used http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ so far and is pretty good.
adrian_pop · 2013-03-27
Here's a first link. It's a visual matching tool for your regex and targeted text + several saved regex expression by the community: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
mukundmr · 2013-02-23
I prefer http://gskinner.com/RegExr/. The UI is way more polished and helpful. It is quite accurate as well.
danso · 2012-10-23
I also like using http://www.gskinner.com/RegExr/
Which I think is Flash/Flash Air...
Being able to permalink (which Rubular also does) to examples is a killer feature..I keep trying to convince non-programmers who work with data that they should at least learn regexes to make their life easier
buttscicles · 2012-10-04
I've found this to be useful personally.
http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
Flenser · 2012-06-21
Some other online regex tools that you may find useful depending you what flavour of regex you want to create and how proficient you are with them:
• http://www.rexv.org/ — Supports: PCRE, Posix, Perl, Python, JS, Node.js modifiers. Only works online though.
• http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ — Implemented in Flash. Desktop version available.
• http://regexpal.com/ — Javascript regex only.
john2x · 2012-06-21
I've been using RegExr[1]. It's Flash/Flex, the "Community" tab is useful for finding common RegEx's.
[1] http://gskinner.com/RegExr
mesh · 2012-03-14
You can export sprite sheets from animations created in the Adobe Flash authoring tool. There are a number of free third party tools that enable this:
SWFSheet
http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2939
Zoe
http://gskinner.com/blog/archives/2011/02/zoe-export-swf-animation-as-…
This feature is also being built into the next version of Flash Professional (the authoring tool), with support for export to various JavaScript libraries (such as Easel.JS) for controlling the animation.
ErrantX · 2012-03-05
That's cool - a reference would be good as well. I've always used RegExr[1] which combines such documentation really neatly.
1. http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
morturus · 2012-03-05
I used to use regexpal, till i discovered this: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/, i'm using it for months without any problems.
fiddly_bits · 2012-03-03
On a related note, gskinner is also responsible for one of the coolest regex tools: http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
It's written in Flex and is also available as an Air app, makes writing regular expressions almost intuitive.
npongratz · 2011-01-22
I use http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ for similar reasons; it's free (doesn't even have ads), though not as powerful as RegexBuddy. Allows for a very quick test-debug-refine cycle, making clear what is matched with realtime highlighting. I'm not affiliated in any way, just very happy with the service.
fourk · 2010-12-25
Most of the applications I use have already been mentioned, so I'm just going to list the ones that haven't yet been mentioned.
I do primarily Django/Python related work and use Eclipse with the Pydev (http://pydev.org/) and Aptana plugins (http://aptana.com/products/studio3). For an interactive python shell, I prefer ipython (http://ipython.scipy.org/moin/). For installing python packages, setuptools (http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools) is very handy.
If you happen to have multiple gmail accounts, Mailplane (http://mailplaneapp.com/) is great.
For doing work with regular expressions, Regexr comes in handy (http://gskinner.com/RegExr/desktop/)
For MySQL DB management, Sequel Pro (http://www.sequelpro.com/).
jcl · 2010-05-14
Apparently Apple eliminated the icons to make it less obvious that their browsers weren't displaying all of a site's content.
Someone has hacked together a way for sites to override that behavior: http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2010/04/return_of_the_b.html
songism · 2009-10-21
i prefer http://www.gskinner.com/RegExr/
mouse over each part of your regular expression to see what it does
profquail · 2009-07-26
Or, you build them online with this neat Javascript-based tool:
http://www.gskinner.com/RegExr/
marcusbooster · 2009-06-12
Here's a different take on the conference events from flash-guy Grant Skinner: http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2009/06/hossgate09_find.html
aupajo · 2009-01-09
It already exists. Try http://www.gskinner.com/gmodeler/app/run.html
itsybitsycoder · 2013-11-28
I like http://gskinner.com/RegExr/
robomartin · 2013-01-02
Interesting concept. As with all regex related online tools, it is important to test exhaustively before trusting it.
Real-time character-by-character output would be important. If you are working on a long regex expression real-time output can help you think like the FSA and see how it behaves.
Here's an example of this tool failing:
<a.*?>([^<]*)<\/a>
http://gskinner.com/RegExr/?339m7
or
http://rubular.com/r/pCXZs0DnSS
take your pick, same results.
If you remove the "?" from the regex you'll get different results.
One version selects all anchor tags individually and make a selection group of their contents and the other version ends-up selecting everything between the first opening anchor tag and the last closing anchor tag into the selection group except for "<" characters.
The graph in Regexper does not show any difference between the two expressions even when any one of these forms is used:
#<a.*>([^<]*)</a>#msi
#<a.*>([^<]*)</a>#gsi
/<a.*>([^<]*)<\/a>/msi
/<a.*>([^<]*)</a>/gsi
It looks like the flags are not being processed.
Also, please change the textbox to a fixed width font.
In addition to that, regex authoring tools, ultimately, are only useful if you can also enter some input text and see the result, preferably in real-time.
Other than that, it's an interesting concept.
f1gm3nt · 2011-04-20
http://www.gskinner.com/RegExr/ Anyone use this?
CodeMage · 2010-06-03
At the risk of sounding like an Apple apologist
I agree, you do. Let me elaborate why.
I think it’s a stretch to say that Jobs is "deciding what content people can view on the iPhone and iPad."
If you choose to interpret it literally, then it's more than a stretch -- it's unfeasible. On the other hand, I believe Robert Wright didn't really mean it so literally. You've probably heard about Steve's (in)famous line about "freedom from porn". Please don't tell me you believe that Steve Jobs has nothing to do with decisions Apple has been making about what their users can or cannot view on their "iDevices". Sure, a lot of the stuff -- like that political cartoonist example -- can be attributed to incompetence and chaos of a typical bureaucracy, but even the most chaotic bureaucracy has someone or something to give a general direction. Implying that Steve Jobs isn't providing that direction to Apple is, well, a stretch.
You can do almost anything you’d like on the iPhone or iPad, provided you’re willing to use the browser as your main portal.
Except run Flash, for example. Or, for that matter, even know why you can't see the content of a site that serves Flash, unless you're web-savvy:
http://www.gskinner.com/blog/archives/2010/04/return_of_the_b.html
If you’re bothered by Apple’s decision to rely on the web and curated applications to provide content to its users, then don’t use an i-Device.
Yeah, I've heard that one before. It's a standard non-argument used by apologists…
chdir · 2015-05-21
I had the older version bookmarked http://gskinner.com/RegExr/ which now redirects to this site. Some other good sites that I've used are:
http://regviz.org/
https://regex101.com/
http://osteele.com/tools/rework/
http://www.rexv.org/
https://www.debuggex.com/