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I agree that one should take a step back at that point but how exactly is this the fundamentally wrong approach to the problem?

Re-using the existing code where possible is the fundamentally right approach to the problem. It just so happens that in this case, there were edge cases that prevented this, so another approach had to be taken.

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> Re-using the existing code where possible is the fundamentally right approach to the problem.

Reusing code does not make something "fundamentally right approach". An implementation that actually does what the problem asks is a "fundamentally right approach". If you can reuse existing code in that implementation then that's a bonus.

The problem is very clearly specified, so if you choose to implement something else hoping that it's "close enough" then that's on you...

Wasn't this more about reusing the regex?

I mean, who said you had to use a regex to begin with?

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