Regular Expressions 101

Pro

Definition Group(?(DEFINE) (?<json> \{ (?: [^{}"']+ |(?<quote>["'])(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*\k<quote> |(?&json) )* \} ) )

Group json(?<json> \{ (?: [^{}"']+ |(?<quote>["'])(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*\k<quote> |(?&json) )* \} )

\{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?: [^{}"']+ |(?<quote>["'])(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*\k<quote> |(?&json) )*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative [^{}"']+

Negated Character Class[^{}"']+

+matches at least one character outside the set below:

{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

2nd Alternative(?<quote>["'])(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*\k<quote>

Group quote(?<quote>["'])

Character Class["']

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative[^\\"']+

Negated Character Class[^\\"']+

+matches at least one character outside the set below:

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

2nd Alternative\\.

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

.any character (except for line terminators)

\k<quote>the text saved by group quote

3rd Alternative(?&json)

(?&json)calls group json as a subroutine

\}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

theObjectthe literal text theObject (case sensitive)

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

=the literal = (61₁₀ / 75₈ / 3D₁₆)

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

(?&json)calls group json as a subroutine

Global pattern flags

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

x modifier: extended. Ignores unescaped whitespace and comments outside character classes

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

25 tokens

Regular Expression

(?(DEFINE)
    (?<json>
        \{ (?:
            [^{}"']+
            |(?<quote>["'])(?:[^\\"']+|\\.)*\k<quote>
            |(?&json)
        )* \}
    )
)

theObject\s*=\s*(?&json)

New

blablabla

theObject = {
key1 = value1,
key2 = "test } test",
key3 = {
    key4 = value4,
    key5 = value5
}
}

blablabla