Assignment: Composing and Using Regular Expressions

Regular expressions became popular with the introduction of the UNIX operating system in 1960s and its text processing tools such as grep and ed.

Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you:

1. Define regular expressions and explain their purpose. 
2. Provide at least three (3) examples which demonstrate the way regular expressions work. 
3. Examine the shortcomings of regular expressions and describe at least two (2) situations where using them might be inappropriate.
4. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
5. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
   1. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
   2. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
   3. Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.