The best replacement for regex is indexof.

The best alternatives to regex are rated as following:
★★★★★  indexof
★★★  indexof javascript
★★★  substring
★★★  string replace
★★★  bnf
★★  glob
★★  exact google analytics
★★  xpath
★★  parsing
★  like mysql
★  beautifulsoup
★  contains c#
  perl
  javascript regex

Your alternative for regex is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about regex, one probably shouldn't forget about grep.

Other search terms related to regex and their ratings are:
★★★★★ grep
★★★ sed
★★ variable javascript
★★ find
★ awk
★ ls
★ substring
You have in mind a companion for regex and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of regex in all years. Click on graph for more.
regex
indexof
indexof javascript