Recognize the decision point where regex should hand off to a parser.
Scope creep A simple comma-split task now includes quoted commas, bracketed tag groups, and escaped quotes from spreadsheets. A pattern that was right on Monday can become the wrong architecture by Friday. Parser handoff matrix Flat token: regex. Structured grammar: parser. Use criteria rather than ego: nesting, quoting, escaping, failure cost, and reader comprehension. Clever regex Keep adding alternation for every edge case. Regex remains useful inside parsed fields instead of pretending to parse the file. Use regex for local shape; use parsers for structured state. 01 Flat 02 Quoted 03 Now try Flat tags Regex fits
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