Regular expressions (regexes) permit to describe set of strings using a pattern-based syntax. Writing a correct regex that exactly captures the desired set of strings is difficult, also because a regex is seldom syntactically incorrect, and so it is rare to detect faults at parse time. We propose a fault-based approach for generating tests for regexes. We identify fault classes representing possible mistakes a user can make when writing a regex, and we introduce the notion of distinguishing string, i.e., a string that is able to witness a fault. Then, we provide a tool, based on the automata representation of regexes, for generating distinguishing strings exposing the faults introduced in mutated versions of a regex under test. The basic generation process is improved by two techniques, namely monitoring and collecting. Experiments show that the approach produces compact test suites having a guaranteed fault detection capability, differently from other test generation approaches.

(2017). MutRex: A Mutation-Based Generator of Fault Detecting Strings for Regular Expressions . Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/116145

MutRex: A Mutation-Based Generator of Fault Detecting Strings for Regular Expressions

Arcaini, Paolo;Gargantini, Angelo;
2017-01-01

Abstract

Regular expressions (regexes) permit to describe set of strings using a pattern-based syntax. Writing a correct regex that exactly captures the desired set of strings is difficult, also because a regex is seldom syntactically incorrect, and so it is rare to detect faults at parse time. We propose a fault-based approach for generating tests for regexes. We identify fault classes representing possible mistakes a user can make when writing a regex, and we introduce the notion of distinguishing string, i.e., a string that is able to witness a fault. Then, we provide a tool, based on the automata representation of regexes, for generating distinguishing strings exposing the faults introduced in mutated versions of a regex under test. The basic generation process is improved by two techniques, namely monitoring and collecting. Experiments show that the approach produces compact test suites having a guaranteed fault detection capability, differently from other test generation approaches.
2017
Arcaini, Paolo; Gargantini, Angelo Michele; Riccobene, Elvinia
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10446/116145
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