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RegExr VS Productivity Power Tools

Compare RegExr VS Productivity Power Tools and see what are their differences

RegExr logo RegExr

RegExr.com is an online tool to learn, build, and test Regular Expressions.

Productivity Power Tools logo Productivity Power Tools

Extension for Visual Studio - A set of extensions to Visual Studio 2012 Professional (and above) which improves developer productivity.
  • RegExr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-28
  • Productivity Power Tools Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-20

RegExr features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    RegExr offers an intuitive and visually appealing interface that makes it easy for users to write, test, and understand regular expressions.
  • Real-time Feedback
    Changes to the regular expression and input text are reflected immediately, allowing users to see the effects of their adjustments in real-time.
  • Built-in Cheatsheet
    RegExr includes a handy cheatsheet that provides quick access to common regex patterns and syntax, making it easier for users to learn and reference rules.
  • Community Examples
    Users can explore and share community-generated regex patterns, which can serve as valuable examples or starting points for creating their own regex.
  • Detailed Explanation
    Each part of the regex pattern can be hovered over to display detailed tooltips explaining its function, aiding in the understanding of complex expressions.
  • Cross-Platform Accessibility
    As a web-based tool, RegExr can be accessed from any modern browser without the need for installation, making it convenient to use on multiple devices.

Possible disadvantages of RegExr

  • Limited Offline Use
    Since RegExr is a web-based application, it requires an internet connection, limiting its utility for users who need to work offline.
  • Learning Curve
    While the tool is user-friendly, users still need to have a foundational understanding of regular expressions to use RegExr effectively.
  • Performance Issues
    For extremely large inputs or very complex regular expressions, the tool may experience performance lags or slowdowns.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    RegExr may lack some advanced features found in more specialized or professional regex tools, such as integration with development environments or extensive scripting capabilities.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Users inputting sensitive data need to be cautious, as the web-based nature of the tool could raise privacy or data security concerns.

Productivity Power Tools features and specs

  • Enhanced Features
    Productivity Power Tools provide numerous enhancements to the existing Visual Studio features, making navigation and coding more efficient.
  • Customization Options
    Users can customize the development environment to better suit their workflow, which can lead to increased productivity.
  • Improved Code Navigation
    The tools include enhanced navigation options, such as quick tabs and better search capabilities, allowing developers to find code faster.
  • Refactoring and Formatting
    The suite includes tools that assist with code refactoring and formatting, which can help maintain consistent code quality across projects.
  • Debugging Aids
    Debugging tools are improved, offering more intuitive ways to troubleshoot and resolve bugs in the code.

Possible disadvantages of Productivity Power Tools

  • Compatibility Issues
    Some users have reported compatibility issues with certain versions of Visual Studio or specific extensions.
  • Resource Intensive
    The additional features may consume extra system resources, potentially affecting the performance of the IDE on lower-end hardware.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The variety of tools and options may overwhelm new users, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Potential for Dependency
    Reliance on these tools might limit a developer's ability to work efficiently in environments where they are not available.
  • Update and Maintenance
    Regular updates and maintenance are required to ensure compatibility with the latest versions of Visual Studio, which can be time-consuming.

Analysis of RegExr

Overall verdict

  • RegExr is widely regarded as an excellent tool for working with regular expressions due to its comprehensive feature set and ease of use.

Why this product is good

  • RegExr is considered a good tool for learning, creating, testing, and sharing regular expressions (regex). It offers a user-friendly interface, extensive documentation, real-time regex parsing, highlighting, and explanations, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced users. The platform provides a library of community-contributed patterns and a robust set of tools that helps users understand and construct regex patterns effectively.

Recommended for

  • Beginners learning regular expressions.
  • Developers needing to test and refine regex patterns.
  • Educators teaching regex concepts.
  • Anyone requiring an intuitive interface to work with regular expressions.

Analysis of Productivity Power Tools

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Productivity Power Tools is generally considered a good set of extensions for Visual Studio users. It enhances the development environment with features that many users find useful in improving their efficiency and productivity during coding sessions. The tools are well-integrated, easy to use, and regularly updated to stay compatible with newer versions of Visual Studio.

Why this product is good

  • Productivity Power Tools is a collection of extensions for Visual Studio that aims to improve and streamline the developer experience. It includes features such as enhanced code navigation, better tab management, and customizable editor enhancements. These tools are designed to make coding more efficient and reduce the cognitive load on developers by automating repetitive tasks and improving the overall workflow.

Recommended for

    Productivity Power Tools is recommended for software developers and engineers who use Visual Studio as their primary Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It is particularly beneficial for those looking to enhance their coding efficiency, improve navigation within the IDE, and customize their development environment to better suit their personal workflow preferences.

RegExr videos

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Productivity Power Tools videos

Productivity Power Toolsย 2017

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to RegExr and Productivity Power Tools)
Programming Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Regular Expressions
62 62%
38% 38
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Productivity
70 70%
30% 30

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Productivity Power Tools might be a bit more popular than RegExr. We know about 520 links to it since March 2021 and only 368 links to RegExr. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

RegExr mentions (368)

  • Learning Perl - Regular Expressions
    Use Online Tools: There are many online regex testers and visualizers that can help you see how your patterns match against sample text. These tools often provide explanations for each part of the regex. I personally use https://regexr.com/. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • The importance of the environment in Regex pattern matching
    However - here it becomes weird - when testing the original regex rule (the first one, without the \u00A0 part) on the same string in an interactive visualiser (https://regexr.com/ for instance), there is a match:. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Ask HN: How did you learn Regex?
    Learned regex in the 90's from the Perl documentation, or possibly one of the oreilly perl references. That was a time where printed language references were more convenient than searching the internet. Perl still includes a shell component for accessing it's documentation, that was invaluable in those ancient times. Perl's regex documentation is rather fantastic. `perldoc perlre` from your terminal. Or... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: How did you learn Regex?
    I read a lot on https://www.regular-expressions.info and experimented on https://rubular.com since I was also learning Ruby at the time. https://regexr.com is another good tool that breaks down your regex and matches. One of the things I remember being difficult at the beginning was the subtle differences between implementations, like `^` meaning "beginning of line" in Ruby (and others) but meaning "beginning of... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: How did you learn Regex?
    Mostly building things that needed complex RegEx, and debugging my regular expressions with https://regexr.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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Productivity Power Tools mentions (520)

  • Show HN: A VS Code Extension for Genesis DB โ€“ The event sourcing database
    Https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=patriceckhart.genesisdb-vscode I'd love to hear what you think:. - Source: Hacker News / about 13 hours ago
  • Cursor 1.7
    Sounds like you're still using the terminal. I'm talking about https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anthropic.claude-code. - Source: Hacker News / 3 days ago
  • Basic Dialects, IDEs, and Tutorials
    One project which is trying very hard is SmallVisualBasic: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ModernVBNET.sVBInstaller. - Source: Hacker News / 3 days ago
  • How to Make Sense of Any Mess
    I just use VSCode with a markdown file and the mermaid preview extension. Itโ€™s all local. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vstirbu.vscode-mermaid-preview. - Source: Hacker News / 12 days ago
  • Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2025)?
    Playing around with code visualization. Built a vscode extension to generate architecture diagrams for terraform - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=infragram.infragram Now exploring on extending this to general programming languages. Software is getting increasingly complex, but I don't think we have figured out many ways of navigating large codebases. Would love to hear about your favourite... - Source: Hacker News / 9 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing RegExr and Productivity Power Tools, you can also consider the following products

regular expressions 101 - Extensive regex tester and debugger with highlighting for PHP, PCRE, Python and JavaScript.

rubular - A ruby based regular expression editor

RegexPlanet Ruby - RegexPlanet offers a free-to-use Regular Expression Test Page to help you check RegEx in Ruby free-of-cost.

Expresso - The award-winning Expresso editor is equally suitable as a teaching tool for the beginning user of regular expressions or as a full-featured development environment for the experienced programmer with an extensive knowledge of regular expressions.

RegEx Generator - RegEx Generator is a simple-to-use application that comes with the brilliance of intuitive regex and is also helping you out to test the regex.

i Hate Regex - regex cheatsheet for the haters