Regular Expressions 101

Save & Share

  • Regex Version: ver. 1
  • Update Regex
    ctrl+⇧+s
  • Save new Regex
    ctrl+s
  • Add to Community Library

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

/
/
gu

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

const regex = /#\{(?![.\d])(?=(?<inner>(?:[\-_]{0,4}(?<![\-_]{5})[\p{L}\d]{2,}[\.\-_]?[\-_]{0,3})+))\1(?<!\.)\}/gu; // Alternative syntax using RegExp constructor // const regex = new RegExp('#\\{(?![.\\d])(?=(?<inner>(?:[\\-_]{0,4}(?<![\\-_]{5})[\\p{L}\\d]{2,}[\\.\\-_]?[\\-_]{0,3})+))\\1(?<!\\.)\\}', 'gu') const str = `- Must start with \`#{\`, not captured. - Must end with \`}\`, not captured. - Named capture group 'inner' within the brackets. - Must only contain periods, dashes, underscores, unicode letters, and 0-9 digits. - Must contain at least two unicode letters, or at least one unicode letter and digit. - Cannot begin or end with a period. Ex.\`#{.foo.}\`not matched. - Cannot start with a digit. Ex. \`#{42_digitAtStart}\` is not matched. - No periods before unicode chars, Ex. \`#{_.foo}\` is not matched. - Two periods cannot be next to one another. Ex. \`#{foo.bar}\` is OK, but \`#{foo..bar}\`, \`#{.foo}\`, and \`#{foo.}\` are not. - cannot contain any mix of more than 4 dashes or underscores next to one another. Eg. \`#{foo____}\` and \`#{-_-_foo-bar_-_-}\` are OK, but \`#{--___ foo}\` and \`#{bar-_-_--} are not. MUST MATCH #{alpha} #{beta} #{charlie} #{ìñtérnâtiônàlizàtïon} #{مرحبا} #{こんにちは} #{мир} #{-dashes-} #{_under_scores_} #{dots.and-dashes-and_under_scores} #{some_ASCII_Digits_12345} #{a2ndPositionDigit} #{test.foo.bar.baz} #{outer_must_not_match#{#{only_deepest_must_match}}} #{____fourUnderscoresAndDashesTogether} #{fourDashes-_--} #{a2} // One letter and one digit #{period._} // Note period BEFORE letters is not allowed MUST NOT MATCH #{} // Empty #{a} #{-} #{_} // Single characters #{42_digitAtStart} #{0123456789} // Only digits #{.periodAtStart} #{periodAtEnd.} #{moreThanOnePeriod..Together} #{a.singleStartingCharacterFollowedByPeriod} #{#non-Dash_Underscore_Period.Symbols} #{---} // Only Dashes #{-_-} // Only dashes and underscores #{_-_} #{-_-_-moreThanFourModifiers} #{_.dotBeforeCharacters} #{-_-_-moreThanFourModifiers} #{modifiers-----five} #{modifiers______six} #{modifiers-------seven} #{modifiers_-_-_-_-eight} #{moreThanFourModifiers-_-_-} #{last\\} // escape backslashes #{\\first} #{mid\\dle}`; // 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