Wouldn't it be easier if you could write stuff like...

Group
	.Text("http")
	.Maybe("s")
	.Text("://")
	.As("protocol")

... instead of those nasty Regular Expressions and let a tool generate the expressions for you? Because having to write regexes is what makes mortals avoid using them in the first place, isn't it?

Start by instanciating a new SimpleExpression object and store it as dynamic:

dynamic se = new SimpleExpression();

This object is then the source of your query. Chain the query to that object as you go, be wild, go ahead! Each query must end with a Generate() termination statement to tell the SimpleExpression internal parser that the expression is over.

SimpleExpression result = se.<your-wild-expression>.Generate();

The object returned is a SimpleExpression itself so you can chain up some more stuff onto it. The generated expression is available on the result object via the Expression property.

string expression = result.Expression;

The various "functions" you can use are described in the Wiki. Some are methods with parameters, others are "member-calls-like" without parameters and without parenthesis ( ), some have a very strict semantic and others are quite loose.

SimpleExpressions is based on the C# 4.0 dynamic keyword, thus you don't have IntelliSense support. But be reassured, the number of functions you can write is quite small and the combinations are almost entirely up to you, you can chain up pretty much anything to everything. The only thing you need to care is not messing up the spelling, but the errors thrown by SimpleExpressions and the testing tools will help you get there (hopefully) as smoothly as it gets.

Head over to the Wiki for the full list of supported functions and examples.

• .NET 4.0

Nuget: Install-Package SimpleExpressions Package Page: https://www.nuget.org/packages/SimpleExpressions/