RegEx Max Limit

[behbeh]

Hello!
Does anyone know if there is a maximum number or words/strings you can use in regex alternations?
(Ex: OH | Ohio | PA | Pennsylvania | RI | Rhode Island |...)
I know regex's are fast but if there is a limit or if hundreds of words in the alternation would slow it down to a crawl, I would greatly appreciate knowing this prior to building my expressions.
Thanks!

 

[mwolf00]

I imagine that you can create a fairly lengthy expression, but it will sap the RAM if it's too long (are we talking > 1M here?)

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build better and bigger idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Rick Cook (No, I'm not Rick)

 

[behbeh]

I have one regex I would need to have a little over 1,800 words listed in the alternation part. This would be sucked out of a database table as a regex string and then used in the front-end of the app.

 

[mwolf00]

That doesn't sound too bad - let us know how it goes...

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build better and bigger idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Rick Cook (No, I'm not Rick)

 

[clarkin]

IMO regex might not be the right tool for the job, particularly for a javascript solution.

What's the length of the string? 10k characters? Remember if it is javascript it is the users' cpu / memory being hosed

Posting code? Wrap it with code tags: [ignore]

[/ignore][code]CodeHere

[ignore][/code][/ignore].

 

[mwolf00]

clarkin - I was thinking that this was server-side...

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build better and bigger idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Rick Cook (No, I'm not Rick)

 

[behbeh]

When all is said and done, the length of the string would be around 3,500 characters. I guess I'm not so concerned at this point about the memory being hosed (this would have to be tested), I just want to make sure there isn't a MAX limit to the length of a regex. If there is no limit to the length of the altrernation, then I will know that it's being hosed because of the cpu/memory.

 

[behbeh]

whoops...I meant 35,000 characters!