Formal languages and infinite groups ==================================== Geometric and Computational Perspectives on Infinite Groups, (Minneapolis, MN and New Brunswick, NJ, 1994), 27-51, DIMACS Ser. Discrete Math. Theoret. Comput. Sci., 25, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1996. This article is an introduction to formal languages from the point of view of combinatorial group theory.