Regulärer

Regulärer is a German adjective form derived from regulär, meaning regular or in accordance with rules. It appears in the comparative degree as regulärer (more regular) and as the attributive form before nouns. In masculine nominative singular, the indefinite article yields ein regulärer Ausdruck, while with a definite article the form is der reguläre Ausdruck. The word also occurs in other noun phrases such as regulärer Graph (in mathematics, a graph where every vertex has the same degree).

Etymology and usage: regulär traces back to Latin regulāris, via Old French régulier, into German. In technical and scientific language it is a common modifier to express standardization or conformity to rules. In mathematics, regulärer Graph is a standard term describing regular graphs; in linguistics and computer science the adjective appears in phrases like reguläre Muster (regular pattern) or regulärer Ausdruck (regular expression).

Computing and terminology: The term regulärer Ausdruck is the German equivalent of the English “regular expression,” a pattern-matching language used to describe strings. It is a widespread term in programming and text processing, appearing in documentation and code comments as a way to refer to the underlying search patterns.

Nuances: Regulär emphasizes adherence to rules or standardization, while regelmäßig generally refers to occurrence at regular intervals or routines. Although related, they are not always interchangeable, and the choice depends on context—such as rule-based conformity versus periodicity.