REGULAR EXPRESSIONS

A Regular Expression can be recursively defined as follows −

1) ε is a Regular Expression indicates the language containing an empty
string. (L (ε) = {ε})
2) φ is a Regular Expression denoting an empty language. (L (φ) = { })
3) x is a Regular Expression where L = {x}
4) If X is a Regular Expression denoting the language L(X) and Y is a
Regular Expression denoting the language L(Y), then
1) X + Y is a Regular Expression corresponding to the
language L(X) ∪ L(Y) where L(X+Y) = L(X) ∪ L(Y).
2) X . Y is a Regular Expression corresponding to the
language L(X) . L(Y) where L(X.Y) = L(X) . L(Y)
3) R* is a Regular Expression corresponding to the
language L(R*)where L(R*) = (L(R))*
• If we apply any of the rules several times from 1 to 4, they are
Regular Expressions.
 Regular Set
• Any set that represents the value of the Regular
Expression is called a Regular Set.
Regular Regular Set
Expressions
(0 + 10*) L = { 0, 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, … }
(0*10*) L = {1, 01, 10, 010, 0010, …}
(0 + ε)(1 + ε) L = {ε, 0, 1, 01}
(a+b)* Set of strings of a’s and b’s of any length
including the null string. So L = { ε, a, b, aa ,
ab , bb , ba, aaa…….}
(a+b)*abb Set of strings of a’s and b’s ending with the
string abb. So L = {abb, aabb, babb, aaabb,
ababb, …………..}
 Regular Set

Regular Regular Set

Expressions
(11)* Set consisting of even number of 1’s including empty
string, So L= {ε, 11, 1111, 111111, ……….}
(aa)*(bb)*b Set of strings consisting of even number of a’s
followed by odd number of b’s , so L = {b, aab, aabbb,
aabbbbb, aaaab, aaaabbb, …………..}
(aa + ab + ba + String of a’s and b’s of even length can be obtained by
bb)* concatenating any combination of the strings aa, ab, ba
and bb including null, so L = {aa, ab, ba, bb, aaab,
aaba, …………..}
 Properties of Regular Sets
• Property 1. The union of two regular set is regular.

Proof −
Let us take two regular expressions
RE1 = a(aa)* and RE2 = (aa)*
So, L1 = {a, aaa, aaaaa,.....} (Strings of odd length excluding
Null)
and L2 ={ ε, aa, aaaa, aaaaaa,.......} (Strings of even length
including Null)
L1 ∪ L2 = { ε, a, aa, aaa, aaaa, aaaaa, aaaaaa,.......}
(Strings of all possible lengths including Null)
RE (L1 ∪ L2) = a* (which is a regular expression itself)
• Property 2. The intersection of two regular set is
regular.
Proof −
Let us take two regular expressions
RE1 = a(a*) and RE2 = (aa)*
So, L1 = { a,aa, aaa, aaaa, ....} (Strings of all possible
lengths excluding Null)
L2 = { ε, aa, aaaa, aaaaaa,.......} (Strings of even length
including Null)
L1 ∩ L2 = { aa, aaaa, aaaaaa,.......} (Strings of even length
excluding Null)
RE (L1 ∩ L2) = aa(aa)* which is a regular expression itself.
Hence, proved.
Property 3. The complement of a regular set is regular.
Proof −
Let us take a regular expression −
RE = (aa)*
So, L = ,ε, aa, aaaa, aaaaaa, .......} (Strings of even length
including Null)
Complement of L is all the strings that is not in L.
So, L’ = ,a, aaa, aaaaa, .....} (Strings of odd length
excluding Null)
RE (L’) = a(aa)* which is a regular expression itself.
Hence, proved.
• Property 4. The difference of two regular set is regular.
Proof −
Let us take two regular expressions −
RE1 = a (a*) and RE2 = (aa)*
So, L1 = {a, aa, aaa, aaaa, ....} (Strings of all possible
lengths excluding Null)
L2 = { ε, aa, aaaa, aaaaaa,.......} (Strings of even length
including Null)
L1 – L2 = {a, aaa, aaaaa, aaaaaaa, ....}
(Strings of all odd lengths excluding Null)
RE (L1 – L2) = a (aa)* which is a regular expression.
Hence, proved.
 Identities Related to Regular Expressions

Given R, P, L, Q as regular expressions, the following identities hold

• ∅* = ε
• ε* = ε
• RR* = R*R
• R*R* = R*
• (R*)* = R*
• RR* = R*R
• (PQ)*P =P(QP)*
• (a+b)* = (a*b*)* = (a*+b*)* = (a+b*)* = a*(ba*)*
• R + ∅ = ∅ + R = R (The identity for union)
• R ε = ε R = R (The identity for concatenation)
• ∅ L = L ∅ = ∅ (The annihilator for concatenation)
• R + R = R (Idempotent law)
• L (M + N) = LM + LN (Left distributive law)
• (M + N) L = ML + NL (Right distributive law)
• ε + RR* = ε + R*R = R*
Property 5. The reversal of a regular set is regular.
Proof −
We have to prove LR is also regular if L is a regular set.
Let, L = {01, 10, 11, 10}
RE (L) = 01 + 10 + 11 + 10
LR = {10, 01, 11, 01}
RE (LR) = 01 + 10 + 11 + 10 which is regular
Hence, proved.
Property 6. The closure of a regular set is regular.
Proof −
If L = {a, aaa, aaaaa, .......} (Strings of odd length
excluding Null)
i.e., RE (L) = a (aa)*
L* = {a, aa, aaa, aaaa , aaaaa,……………- (Strings of all
lengths excluding Null)
RE (L*) = a (a)*
Hence, proved.
• Property 7. The concatenation of two regular sets is
regular.
Proof −
Let RE1 = (0+1)*0 and RE2 = 01(0+1)*
Here, L1 = {0, 00, 10, 000, 010, ......} (Set of strings ending
in 0)
and L2 = {01, 010,011,.....} (Set of strings beginning with
01)
Then, L1 L2 =
{001,0010,0011,0001,00010,00011,1001,10010,.............}
Set of strings containing 001 as a substring which can be
represented by an RE − (0 + 1)*001(0 + 1)*
Hence, proved.
RE examples
RE examples
 Arden's Theorem

In order to find out a regular expression of a

Finite Automaton, we use Arden’s Theorem
along with the properties of regular expressions.
Assumptions for Applying Arden’s Theorem
• The transition diagram must not have NULL
transitions
• It must have only one initial state
 Arden’s Theorem
Statement −
Let P and Q be two regular expressions.
If P does not contain null string, then R = Q + RP has a
unique solution that is R = QP*
Proof −
R = Q + (Q + RP)P [After putting the value R = Q + RP]
= Q + QP + RPP
When we put the value of R recursively again and again,
we get the following equation −
R = Q + QP + QP2 + QP3…..
R = Q (ε + P + P2 + P3 + …. )
R = QP* [As P* represents (ε + P + P2 + P3 + ….) +
Hence, proved.
 Method
Step 1 − Create equations as the following form for all
the states of the DFA having n states with initial state q1.
q1 = q1R11 + q2R21 + … + qnRn1 + ε
q2 = q1R12 + q2R22 + … + qnRn2
…………………………
…………………………
…………………………
…………………………
qn = q1R1n + q2R2n + … + qnRnn
Rij represents the set of labels of edges from qi to qj, if no
such edge exists, then Rij = ∅
Step 2 − Solve these equations to get the equation for
the final state in terms of Rij
 Problem 1
• Construct a regular expression corresponding
to the automata given below −
The equations for the three states q1, q2, and q3 are
as follows −
q1 = q1a + q3a + ε (ε move is because q1 is the initial
state0
q2 = q1b + q2b + q3b
q3 = q2a
Now, we will solve these three equations −
q2 = q1b + q2b + q3b
= q1b + q2b + (q2a)b (Substituting value of q3)
= q1b + q2(b + ab)
= q1b (b + ab)* (Applying Arden’s Theorem)
q1 = q1a + q3a + ε
= q1a + q2aa + ε (Substituting value of q3)
= q1a + q1b(b + ab*)aa + ε (Substituting value of q2)
= q1(a + b(b + ab)*aa) + ε
= ε (a+ b(b + ab)*aa)*
= (a + b(b + ab)*aa)*
Hence, the regular expression is (a + b(b + ab)*aa)*.
 Problem 2
• Construct a regular expression corresponding
to the automata given below −
 Solution
Here the initial state is q1 and the final state is q2
Now we write down the equations −
q1 = q10 + ε
q2 = q11 + q20
q3 = q21 + q30 + q31
Now, we will solve these three equations −
q1 = ε0* *As, εR = R]
So, q1 = 0*
q2 = 0*1 + q20
So, q2 = 0*1(0)* *By Arden’s theorem+
Hence, the regular expression is 0*10*.
 Construction of an FA from an RE

Thompson's Construction to find out a Finite

Automaton from a Regular Expression.
We will reduce the regular expression into
smallest regular expressions and converting
these to NFA and finally to DFA
• Some basic RA expressions are the following −
Case 1 − For a regular expression ‘a’, we can construct
the following FA −

Case 2 − For a regular expression ‘ab’, we can

construct the following FA −
Case 3 − For a regular expression (a+b), we can
construct the following FA −

Case 4 − For a regular expression (a+b)*, we can

construct the following FA −
 Method
Step 1 Construct an NFA with Null moves from
the given regular expression.
Step 2 Remove Null transition from the NFA and
convert it into its equivalent DFA.
 Problem
Convert the following RA into its equivalent DFA
− 1 (0 + 1)* 0
• concatenate three expressions "1", "(0 + 1)*" and
"0“

• Now we will remove the ε transitions. After we

remove the ε transitions from the NDFA, we get the
following −