How can I convert from underscores to camel case with a regex?

Jeff Axelrod picture Jeff Axelrod · Mar 12, 2012 · Viewed 21.4k times · Source

How can I convert names with underscores into camel case names as follows using a single Java/Perl regular expression search and replace?

underscore_variable_name -> underscoreVariableName
UNDERSCORE_VARIABLE_NAME -> underscoreVariableName
_LEADING_UNDERSCORE -> leadingUnderscore

The reason I ask for a single regular expressions is that I want to do this using Eclipse or Notepad++ search and replace.

Answer

Qtax picture Qtax · Mar 12, 2012

Some Perl examples:

my $str = 'variable_name, VARIABLE_NAME, _var_x_short,  __variable__name___';

### solution 1
$_ = $str;

$_ = lc;
s/_(\w)/\U$1/g;

say;

### solution 2: multi/leading underscore fix
$_ = $str;

$_ = lc;
s/(?<=[^\W_])_+([^\W_])|_+/\U$1/g;

say;

### solution 3: without prior lc
$_ = $str;

s/(?<=[^\W_])_+([^\W_])|([^\W_]+)|_+/\U$1\L$2/g;

say;

Output:

variableName, variableName, VarXShort,  _variable_name__
variableName, variableName, varXShort,  variableName
variableName, variableName, varXShort,  variableName