Regular expression

Overview

Define your own regular expression (regex) to search the input data with, optionally choosing from a list of pre-defined patterns.

Status

Field Value
Implementation Partial
Parity Exact
Availability Available
Input requirement Required
Features none
Side effects []
Deterministic true

Input

Declared input type: String.

Output

Declared output type: HTML. Redirect stdout or use --output-file for exact binary bytes.

Arguments

# Argument Type Required Default Allowed Sensitive Description
1 Built in regexes Regex no User defined — no Built in regexes
2 Regex Regex no <empty> — no Regular expression
3 Case insensitive Boolean no true — no Case insensitive
4 ^ and $ match at newlines Boolean no true — no ^ and $ match at newlines
5 Dot matches all Boolean no false — no Dot matches all
6 Unicode support Boolean no false — no Unicode support
7 Astral support Boolean no false — no Astral support
8 Display total Boolean no false — no Display total
9 Output format String no Highlight matches — no Output format

Implementation

The implementation is in src/operations/regular_expression.rs and declares String input and HTML output. The operation module owns conversion and domain-error rules; registry resolution, argument validation, input-requirement enforcement, tracing, and output validation are performed by rxchef::execution.

Command-line use

This operation requires input. Supply literal UTF-8 with --input, exact bytes with --input-file, or pipe bytes on stdin.

rxchef run "Regular expression" --input-file input.bin --output-file output.bin

Arguments may be supplied positionally in the table order or by name with repeatable --arg NAME=VALUE. Omitted optional arguments use the documented defaults.

Pipeline use

Place the operation anywhere a String value is valid. Its HTML result becomes the next step's input. Compact syntax uses the operation name followed by comma-separated arguments; JSON/YAML recipes use an op field and an args array.

Error conditions

Schema violations are rejected before the operation runs. Malformed input, unsupported parameter combinations, unavailable optional backends, and domain processing failures produce structured errors and a non-zero CLI status; partial output is never reported as success.

CyberChef compatibility

Parity status: Exact. Unknown records an unassessed compatibility claim; it does not imply equality or incompatibility.

Security considerations

Declared side effects: []. Treat parser inputs as untrusted and apply execution limits to large data. Arguments marked sensitive in the schema are redacted from metadata-aware History displays.

Testing evidence

Correctness tests: - tests/tests/operations/regular_expression.rs

Differential tests: - tests/tests/differential.rs

Performance classification

Excluded from the committed representative benchmark set: No stable representative benchmark case is defined; operation remains Partial until performance evidence is reviewed.

References