Question

Which of the following best defines regular expressions?

(a) They are made up of terms, operators and modifiers

(b) They describe string or set of strings to find matching patterns

(c) They are strictly restricted to alignment and corresponding score

(d) They consist of set of rules for the connotations of various amino acid residues

I had been asked this question during a job interview.

This interesting question is from Motif and Domain Databases Using Regular Expressions topic in chapter Sequence Alignment of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

The correct option is (b) They describe string or set of strings to find matching patterns

For explanation: Regular expressions are powerful notable algebra that describe string or set of strings to find matching patterns. Pattern matching is defined as true or false in answer or outcome. And it is true that they are made up of terms, operators and modifiers but they are terminologies further used in matching process.