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symbolic derivatives and the rust rewrite of RE#

The author has rewritten their RE# regex engine from F# to Rust, making it available as a standalone library without .NET dependencies. The Rust implementation uses symbolic derivatives instead of Brzozowski derivatives, representing a different algorithmic approach while maintaining core features like lazy DFA and bidirectional matching. This rewrite enables broader language compatibility and introduces support for more regex patterns.

Background

RE# is a regex engine that gained attention for its performance and support for extended regex operators. Traditional regex engines often struggle with complex patterns like lookarounds, while RE# aims to handle them efficiently.

Source
Lobsters
Published
Mar 8, 2026 at 09:08 PM
Score
6.0 / 10