I agree that the RegEx could probably be more readable (if you know a bit of RegEx, that is), however, I was always under the impression that you can't beat regular loops in terms of speed. Afterall, by looping yourself you know exactly how many loops are required. In all honesty though, I have no idea how many loops a RegEx makes. This question probably deserves a new thread to itself, what is quicker, custom loops or RegEx :)