@danie10 Yep, it's messy. Have to be extra careful when using it for mass replace.
And then each implemention is different. It confused me before, I didn't realise it then, I thought all regex implementations were the same.
You also have to watch out for speed. Too complex regex, or using too many regexp, can slow things. (Though no longer noticeable with today's computing power.)
I don't know if it was good or bad we have it. I guess it depends on usage.