title: RegEx Parser like in Automata Class
body: <p>It seems that most CS textbooks in Automata theory cover Regular Expressions with the alphabet <em>Σ = {0, 1}</em> or <em>Σ = {a, b}</em>.</p>
  
  <p>Many students in Automata class had trouble writing RegEx's, is there a parser that accepts something like the following examples? Perl RegEx and similar syntax is too dissimilar to be useful.</p>
  
  <p>Some examples:</p>
  
  <pre><code>(0+1)*                  # All words in the language
  (0+1)((0+1)(0+1))*      # All words of odd length
  0(0+1)*1                # Words starting with 0 and ending with 1
  0*+0*10*+0*10*10*       # Has at most two 1's
  (0+10)(0+1)*(1+10)      # Begins with 0 or 10 and ends with 1 or 10
  (1+011)*                # Every 0 followed by two 1's
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In the syntax used in this class and several textbooks, a <code>*</code> indicates matching 0+ times, and a <code>+</code> indicates OR. </p>
  
  <p>Does something out there exist to do this, or should I built my own parser?</p>