Regular Expressions 101

Save & Share

Flavor

  • PCRE2 (PHP >=7.3)
  • PCRE (PHP <7.3)
  • ECMAScript (JavaScript)
  • Python
  • Golang
  • Java 8
  • .NET 7.0 (C#)
  • Rust
  • Regex Flavor Guide

Function

  • Match
  • Substitution
  • List
  • Unit Tests

Tools

Sponsors
There are currently no sponsors. Become a sponsor today!
An explanation of your regex will be automatically generated as you type.
Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.
  • All Tokens
  • Common Tokens
  • General Tokens
  • Anchors
  • Meta Sequences
  • Quantifiers
  • Group Constructs
  • Character Classes
  • Flags/Modifiers
  • Substitution
  • A single character of: a, b or c
    [abc]
  • A character except: a, b or c
    [^abc]
  • A character in the range: a-z
    [a-z]
  • A character not in the range: a-z
    [^a-z]
  • A character in the range: a-z or A-Z
    [a-zA-Z]
  • Any single character
    .
  • Alternate - match either a or b
    a|b
  • Any whitespace character
    \s
  • Any non-whitespace character
    \S
  • Any digit
    \d
  • Any non-digit
    \D
  • Any word character
    \w
  • Any non-word character
    \W
  • Non-capturing group
    (?:...)
  • Capturing group
    (...)
  • Zero or one of a
    a?
  • Zero or more of a
    a*
  • One or more of a
    a+
  • Exactly 3 of a
    a{3}
  • 3 or more of a
    a{3,}
  • Between 3 and 6 of a
    a{3,6}
  • Start of string
    ^
  • End of string
    $
  • A word boundary
    \b
  • Non-word boundary
    \B

Regular Expression
No Match

/
/
gm

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

const regex = /^((?:[A-Za-z0-9!#$%&'*+\-\/=?^_`{|}~]|(?<=^|\.)"|"(?=$|\.|@)|(?<=".*)[ .](?=.*")|(?<!\.)\.){1,64})(@)((?:[A-Za-z0-9.\-])*(?:[A-Za-z0-9])\.(?:[A-Za-z0-9]){2,})$/gm; // Alternative syntax using RegExp constructor // const regex = new RegExp('^((?:[A-Za-z0-9!#$%&\'*+\\-\\\/=?^_`{|}~]|(?<=^|\\.)"|"(?=$|\\.|@)|(?<=".*)[ .](?=.*")|(?<!\\.)\\.){1,64})(@)((?:[A-Za-z0-9.\\-])*(?:[A-Za-z0-9])\\.(?:[A-Za-z0-9]){2,})$', 'gm') const str = `Valid email addresses simple@example.com very.common@example.com disposable.style.email.with+symbol@example.com other.email-with-hyphen@example.com fully-qualified-domain@example.com user.name+tag+sorting@example.com (may go to user.name@example.com inbox depending on mail server) x@example.com (one-letter local-part) example-indeed@strange-example.com example@s.example (see the List of Internet top-level domains) " "@example.org (space between the quotes) "john..doe"@example.org (quoted double dot) ============================================================= Invalid email addresses Abc.example.com (no @ character) A@b@c@example.com (only one @ is allowed outside quotation marks) a"b(c)d,e:f;g<h>i[j\\k]l@example.com (none of the special characters in this local-part are allowed outside quotation marks) just"not"right@example.com (quoted strings must be dot separated or the only element making up the local-part) this is"not\\allowed@example.com (spaces, quotes, and backslashes may only exist when within quoted strings and preceded by a backslash) this\\ still\\"not\\\\allowed@example.com (even if escaped (preceded by a backslash), spaces, quotes, and backslashes must still be contained by quotes) 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234+x@example.com (local part is longer than 64 characters)`; // Reset `lastIndex` if this regex is defined globally // regex.lastIndex = 0; let m; while ((m = regex.exec(str)) !== null) { // This is necessary to avoid infinite loops with zero-width matches if (m.index === regex.lastIndex) { regex.lastIndex++; } // The result can be accessed through the `m`-variable. m.forEach((match, groupIndex) => { console.log(`Found match, group ${groupIndex}: ${match}`); }); }

Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for JavaScript, please visit: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions