Regex for Matching Documentation Websites

This repository contains a powerful regular expression designed to match URLs that commonly point to documentation-related websites. The regex is optimized for flexibility, covering various terms and URL patterns.

Regex Pattern

^.*(?:\.|\/)(docs|documentation|help|guide|manual|reference|api|kb|support|resources|wiki|developer|how-to|tutorials|examples|learn|instructions)(?:\.|\/)?.*$

Purpose

This regex is intended to identify URLs that contain keywords associated with documentation or support websites. It handles common patterns in subdomains, directories, and file paths.

Explanation

• ^.*: Matches any characters at the beginning of the URL (any prefix).
• (?:\.|\/): Matches either a period (.) or a forward slash (/) preceding the keyword.
• (docs|documentation|help|guide|manual|...): Matches any of the keywords listed in the group.
• (?:\.|\/)?: Allows an optional period (.) or forward slash (/) following the keyword.
• .*$: Matches any characters following the keyword (any suffix).

Examples

Positive Examples

The following URLs should match the regex:

https://example.com/docs
http://docs.example.com
https://example.com/documentation
https://sub.domain.com/docs/index.html
https://example.com/help
https://api.example.com/docs
http://example.com/manual/index.html
https://wiki.example.com
http://developer.example.com/guide
https://example.com/tutorials/docs/page
https://kb.example.com/docs/tutorial.html
https://example.com/resources/documentation/tutorial.html
http://example.com/reference/help/documentation.html
https://developer.example.com/docs/tutorials/index.html
http://support.example.com/documentation/overview
https://resources.example.com/docs/v1/tutorial
https://example.com/how-to/documentation
http://example.com/api/reference/docs
https://example.com/reference/v2/index.html
http://example.com/docs/resources/api.html

Negative Examples

The following URLs should not match the regex:

https://example.com/documentary
http://helpful.example.com
https://manuals.example.com
http://example.com/references
https://example.com/resourceful
http://example.com/wiki-books
https://apiary.example.com
http://example.com/documents
http://example.com/documentable
https://help-center.example.com
http://manual.example.com/docsystem
https://example.com/resourcesful
http://api.example.comary
https://example.net/instructions-v1
http://example.org/learned-tutorial
http://example.com/support-center

Author

Jeremy Georges-Filteau Website Github