Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 6 down vote favorite
1

The term regular expression is often shortened to regex. What is the correct pronunciation of the g in regex?

Is it like the g1 in gallium, or is it like the g2 in giraffe? I’ve heard it said both ways.

1.   IPA /g/
2.  IPA /dʒ/

share|improve this question
5  
Since it's /ɡ/ in regular, it's /ɡ/ when it shortens to regex. Changes like this take place in speech, not spelling. Spelling rules do not affect speech; rather, speech affects spelling rules. Occasionally. – John Lawler Dec 14 '12 at 15:20
2  
As in all cases where a portmanteau is formed from two words, the pronunciation is preserved in the portmanteau -- the sounds are identical in the original words and the new one. – Kris Dec 14 '12 at 15:20
1  
There can always be local variants; if somebody in a company decides it's cool to pronounce it /'rɛdʒɛks/, it might catch on there. But that's close to being a pun with rejects, so you want to make sure the stressed vowel is mid lax instead of high tense. – John Lawler Dec 14 '12 at 15:24
3  
@Kris: in my experience, portmanteau words regularly change the pronunciation of the individual parts. Certainly, when my boss pronounced favicon according to your rule, our web designer didn't have a clue what he was talking about. – Marthaª Dec 14 '12 at 15:28
3  
@coleopterist, I think that is, indeed, a duplicate; but I think this is a nice illustration of why it's actually good to have duplicates, because this question's title is much more likely to match what someone is searching for than the older question's title. – Marthaª Dec 14 '12 at 15:33
show 11 more comments

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

On page 27 of Mastering Regular Expressions, Jeffrey Friedl states:

Instead, I normally use "regex." It just rolls right off the tongue ("it rhymes with "FedEx," with a hard g sound like "regular" and not a soft one like in "Regina") and it is amenable to a variety of uses like "when you regex ...," "budding regexers," and even "regexification."

So, if you are looking for an authoritative answer, the above is it.

In a footnote, Friedl also adds:

You might also come across the decidedly unsightly "regexp." I'm not sure how one would pronounce that, but those with a lisp might find it a bit easier.

FWIW, I pronounce it with the soft g simply because it sounds better to mine ears. However, most of the programmers I know do employ the hard g.

share|improve this answer
6  
I say rejex, rejecting the hard g in favor of a more mellifluous phoneme. But I also say gif (not jif) for .gif files. – Robusto Dec 14 '12 at 16:05
@Robusto I've always said rejex. Must un-learn that now. :( And jif somehow sounds better does it not? – DarkCthulhu Dec 14 '12 at 16:09
@Robusto -- Steve Wilhite, who invented the graphics format, said the name should pronounces "like the peanut butter". There's no such authority (to my knowledge) for the pattern language, so, like you, I'm going with majority rules. – Malvolio Dec 14 '12 at 16:14
@Cthulhu: I do not plan to unlearn that. I don't care how Jeffrey Friedl or anyone else may pronounce it. Nobody has failed to understand what I meant so far, except those who don't know what regex is. – Robusto Dec 14 '12 at 16:14
2  
@Jim -- do you generally make this plans ahead of time? – Malvolio Dec 14 '12 at 17:15
show 5 more comments
up vote 3 down vote

Sweet reason clearly dictates, as an abbreviation of regular, it should be pronounced /ɹɛ.ɡɛks/. However, I've heard it said thousands of times and far more often than not, it is pronounced /ɹɛ.dʒɛks/. Dunno why, but there it is.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

I've always heard rejeks or even reejeks. Never heard any other pronunciation. It doesn't lend itself very well to extending. I've been regexing is weird. I never say "regex" to the uninitiated or even "regular expression". Stick instead with word or character pattern.

share|improve this answer
Just call it a pattern. – tchrist Dec 17 '12 at 23:11

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.