From: Warren Brown <WBrown@...>
Date: 2004-10-19T00:16:37+09:00
Subject: Re: [QUIZ][SOLUTION] Regexp.build() (#4)

    To me, the real challenge of this quiz was to specify ranges as REs.

I took the challenge of trying to find the smallest RE representation
of a range.

    Since the algorithm is complex enough, I decided to ignore certain
issues to keep the algorithm as understandable as possible.  For
instance, I decided to not allow leading zeros (although this would be
a simple matter of a "0*" near the front of the RE), not to allow
negative numbers, not to allow underscores in integers, not to allow
other representations of integers (e.g. "0x11", "0o11", "0b11", "?a").
 I did decide to keep each parameter in its own capture, so that you
could tell which parameter caused the match.

    The algorithm is pretty straight-forward, except for the idea of a
"largest, 'roundest' number in range".  Basically, the algorithm works
in two halves.  The first half starts at the ones digit and moves up
to higher digits creating bigger and bigger ranges, up to a point.  I
named this point "roundest".  As an example of this half of the
algorithm, consider how the range 123..999 is expanded into
"12[3-9]|1[3-9]\d|[4-9]\d\d".

    After the "roundest" number is reached, the algorithm starts working
back down towards the ones digit creating smaller and smaller ranges. 
As an example of this half of the algorithm, consider how the range
100..234 is expanded into "1\d\d|2[0-2]\d|23[0-4]".

    There were a surprising number of nooks and crannies to this
algorithm, and I'm not sure I've worked out all of the edge cases, so
I may be posting an update if I find another one.



class Regexp

  # Create a namespace for our subroutines.
  module Build

    # Return the digit at index places from the right for int.
    def self.digit(int,index)
      (int / 10 ** index) % 10
    end

    # Build the smallest RE for the digits in the given range.
    def self.digit_re(first,last)
      case (last - first)
        when 0 then first.to_s
        when 1 then "[#{first}#{last}]"
        when 9 then '\d'
        else "[#{first}-#{last}]"
      end
    end

    # Build a RE for first, varying to last at digit index.
    def self.int_re(first,last,index)
      first.to_s[0...-(index + 1)] +
          digit_re(digit(first,index),digit(last,index)) +
          '\d' * index
    end

    # Build a RE for the integers in the given range.
    def self.range_re(first,last)
      # Find first difference.
      res = []
      last_len = last.to_s.length
      first_diff = 0
      last_len.downto(0) do |first_diff|
        break if digit(first,first_diff) != digit(last,first_diff)
      end
      # Find (largest, "roundest" number in range) - 1.
      roundest = (last / 10 ** first_diff) * 10 ** first_diff - 1
      # Handle everything from first to roundest - 1.
      (0...first_diff).each do |index|
        next if index < first_diff - 1 &&
            digit(roundest,index) - digit(first,index) == 9
        res << int_re(first,roundest,index)
        first = (first / 10 ** (index + 1) + 1) * 10 ** (index + 1)
        break if first > roundest
      end
      # Handle everything from roundest to last, except last digit.
      (first_diff - 1).downto(1) do |index|
        next if digit(last,index) == 0
        tmp_last = (last / 10 ** index) * 10 ** index - 1
        res << int_re(first,tmp_last,index)
        first = tmp_last + 1
      end
      # Last digit is special.
      res << int_re(first,last,0)
      res.join('|')
    end

  end

  # Build a RE for each argument.
  def Regexp.build(*args)
    res = []
    args.each do |arg|
      # If it is an integer, just match it.
      if arg.respond_to?(:to_i)
        res << arg.to_i
      # If it is a range, build the RE.
      elsif arg.respond_to?(:exclude_end?)
        last = arg.exclude_end? ? arg.last - 1 : arg.last
        res << Build::range_re(arg.first,last)
      # Otherwise, error
      else
        $stderr.puts "Unknown argument (#{arg.inspect})."
      end
    end
    # Combine REs.
    Regexp.new("\\A(#{res.join(')|(')})\\z")
  end
end


# Run some test cases.
p Regexp.build(1..1000000)
p Regexp.build(12345...24680)
p Regexp.build(123..123)
p Regexp.build(10..19)
p Regexp.build(1..102)
p Regexp.build(100..234)
p Regexp.build(1990..2010)
p Regexp.build(1..10,20,30..40,50,60,70..80)


    - Warren Brown