regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

Pro

1st Alternative(\{(?:(?1)|[^{}]*+)++\})

Group 1(\{(?:(?1)|[^{}]*+)++\})

\{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:(?1)|[^{}]*+)++

++repeats the group contents below at least once:

1st Alternative(?1)

(?1)calls group 1 as a subroutine

2nd Alternative[^{}]*+

Negated Character Class[^{}]*+

*+matches any number of characters outside the set below:

{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

\}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

2nd Alternative[^{}\s]++

Negated Character Class[^{}\s]++

++matches at least one character outside the set below:

{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

\sany whitespace character

Global pattern flags

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

25 tokens

Regular Expression

(\{(?:(?1)|[^{}]*+)++\})|[^{}\s]++

New

junk text
"atomic junk"

some junk text followed by a start bracket { here is the actual payload
    more payload
    "atomic payload"
    nested start bracket { - all of this line is untouchable payload too
        here is more payload
        "yet more atomic payload; this one's got a smiley ;-)"
    end of nested bracket pair } - all of this line is untouchable payload too
    this is payload too
} trailing junk
intermittent junk
{
    payload that goes in second output file    }
end junk