Solve Wordle puzzles with regular expressions

King of the Wordle

© Lead Image © lightwise, 123RF.com

© Lead Image © lightwise, 123RF.com

Article from Issue 259/2022
Author(s): , Author(s):

Five letters, one word, six tries – that's Wordle. You can solve any Wordle in just a few steps and gain practical experience using grep and regular expressions.

You've probably come across strange posts on various social media platforms recently where users have shared images of what at first glance appears to be a very simple word game. Typically, you'll see a grid of five by six boxes colored either gray, yellow, or green populated by five-letter words that don't seem to have anything in common.

If you've steered clear of the hype so far, this phenomenon goes by the name of Wordle [1]. Launched in October 2021, the free and currently ad-free Wordle was quickly acquired by The New York Times Company from US software developer Josh Wardle for a "low seven-figure sum" – rumors on the web claim the actual sum was $6 million [2].

To solve Wordle puzzles, you need an extensive vocabulary. If you want to make things a little easier, you can use a dictionary file and some regular expressions and create your own Wordle solver. From an IT point of view, Wordle offers an ideal practical example for getting started with grep and regular expressions.

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