TRANSFORMATION OF REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

• US 20120124064A1
• Filed: 01/27/2012
• Published: 05/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Syrowitz, Clinton, Gandhi, Mauktik, Mishra, Ashish, Sundaram, Manivannan
• Granted Patent: US 8,892,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/754
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90344 by using string matching techniques

Abstract

Techniques to transform regular expressions are described. An apparatus may comprise a processor circuit and a key terms identifying module operative on the processor circuit to generate a set of one or more regular expression key terms from enabled features of a regular expression based on a set of configuration parameters, and filter one or more electronic messages using the set of regular expression key terms. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

selecting a regular expression from a set of regular expressions used to identify a text portion of a message;

retrieving a set of one or more configuration parameters arranged to control expansion of features of the regular expression;

identifying a set of one or more features within the regular expression enabled by the set of configuration parameters; and

generating a set of one or more identified regular expression key terms from the enabled features of the regular expression.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising retrieving a configuration parameter comprising an integer value to constrain expansion of a feature of the regular expression.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising retrieving a configuration parameter comprising an integer value to constrain expansion of a feature of the regular expression, where an integer value of zero indicates that the feature should not be expanded.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising retrieving a configuration parameter comprising an integer value to constrain expansion of a feature of the regular expression, where an integer value of greater than zero indicates a number of occurrences of the feature allowed before limiting expansion.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising identifying the set of one or more features within the regular expression enabled by the set of configuration parameters, the one or more features comprising a grouping feature, a class feature, or an operator feature.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising enumerating each of the identified features.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising replacing each of the identified features with a literal representation to generate an identified regular expression key term.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising applying an order of operations to the identified features in the regular expression.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising extracting single characters with repetition operators from the regular expression.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising extracting groupings with repetition operators from the regular expression.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising extracting groupings with alternations from the regular expression.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising remove redundant groupings from the regular expression.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising recommending modifications to the regular expression based on the set of identified regular expression key terms.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, cause a computing system to:

retrieve a set of one or more configuration parameters arranged to control expansion of features of a regular expression;

generate a set of one or more regular expression key terms from features of the regular expression based on the set of configuration parameters; and

filtering electronic messages using the set of regular expression key terms.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14, the computer-executable instructions that cause the computing system to identify a set of one or more features within the regular expression enabled by the set of configuration parameters, the one or more features comprising a grouping feature, a class feature, or an operator feature.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, the computer-executable instructions that cause the computing system to:

enumerate each of the identified features; and

replace each of the identified features with a literal representation comprising a string of terms to generate a regular expression key term from the regular expression.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, the computer-executable instructions that cause the computing system to apply an order of operations to the identified features in the regular expression, the order of operations comprising single characters with a repetition operator, groupings with a repetition operator, and alternations.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor circuit, and

a key terms identifying module operative on the processor circuit to generate a set of one or more regular expression key terms from enabled features of a regular expression based on a set of configuration parameters, and filter one or more electronic messages using the set of regular expression key terms.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, the key terms identifying module operative to identify a set of one or more features within the regular expression enabled by the set of configuration parameters, the one or more features comprising a grouping feature, a class feature, or an operator feature.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, the key terms identifying module operative to apply an order of operations to identified features in the regular expression, the order of operations comprising single characters with a repetition operator, groupings with a repetition operator, and alternations.