Not sure about ffmpeg, but you should definitely try memorising regexp. Casual Search&replace that becomes possible is worth it.
"The Insanity Of Linux's Regular Expressions " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys7yUyyQA-Y
All in all, my life would be miserable if I would not have regexp available in grep/sed/editor/ide/java/python, their usefulness trump any such inconveniences.