There's a famous joke: "You have a problem. You decide to solve it with regex. Now you have two problems."
Everyone uses regular expressions. Nobody enjoys writing them. So we Google it, copy from Stack Overflow, paste it in and pray. Six months later, we look at it and have no idea what it does.
The Regex Searches Everyone Makes
If you've worked with text processing or log parsing, you've Googled these:
- "regex for email address" — Looks simple, turns into a 200-character monster if you want RFC compliance.
-
"regex for IP address" — IPv4 seems easy until
\d{1,3}matches 999. IPv6 is worse. - "regex to match URL" — Protocols, subdomains, ports, paths, query strings. Good luck.
- "regex for date format" — YYYY-MM-DD? MM/DD/YYYY? Each one is a different pattern.
Every one sends you through a maze of Stack Overflow answers (half outdated), and back to your terminal hoping the pattern works.
Regex Is a Write-Only Language
Try to figure out what this does in 10 seconds:
^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]?\d\d?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]?\d\d?)$
That's an IPv4 validator. Correct, well-written — and completely unreadable. The gap between "what you want to match" and "the pattern that matches it" is enormous. You think in English. Regex speaks in hieroglyphics.
Describe What You Want. Get the Regex.
With plztell.me , you bridge that gap instantly. Describe what you want to match in plain English, and get a working regex pattern right in your terminal:
plz regex to match email addresses
plz regex for valid IPv4 addresses
plz regex to match dates in YYYY-MM-DD format
No memorization. No cheatsheets. No Stack Overflow rabbit holes. Just the pattern you need, when you need it.
Decode Regex You Didn't Write
Maybe the bigger pain point isn't writing regex — it's reading it. You open a script, a config file, or a log parser, and there's a regex pattern staring at you like ancient runes. You have no idea what it matches, and the person who wrote it didn't leave a comment.
Just paste it in and ask:
plz "explain this regex: ^(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]?\d\d?)\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|[01]?\d\d?)$"
The AI breaks it down piece by piece in plain English. Then you can follow up:
plz modify that to also match IPv6 addresses
Context is preserved, so the AI knows which pattern you're talking about. No starting over.
Get Regex for the Exact Tool You're Using
Regex syntax varies between tools. What works in Python might not work in grep. What works in grep might need escaping in sed. Instead of guessing, just ask for the specific tool:
plz grep regex to find lines with IP addresses in a log file
plz sed command to replace dates from MM/DD/YYYY to YYYY-MM-DD
plz python regex to validate phone numbers with country code
You get the complete command ready to run — not just the raw pattern. No escaping headaches.
Set Up in 5 Seconds
No signup. No API key. No installation. Just copy and paste:
Linux / macOS
eval "$(curl -sL plztell.me/setup)"
eval "$(wget -qO- plztell.me/setup)"
Windows
iex (iwr -useb plztell.me/setup/win).Content
Then generate any regex pattern you need:
plz regex to match email addresses
Tip: Use quotes if your question contains shell special characters like ? ! & | ; ' " $ * < > etc.
That's it — you're using Gemini 2.0 Flash for free, no account needed. Your personal regex generator, right in your terminal.
Regex Should Be a Tool, Not a Puzzle
You don't need to memorize every metacharacter and lookahead. Just describe what you want to match and let the AI handle the syntax.
Try plztell.me — set it up in 5 seconds, then type plz regex to match email addresses and stop wrestling with regex forever.
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