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

/
/
gmi

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "‘(?!(?:“[^”\\n]*”|[^‘”\\n])*’(?![a-z]))"; final String string = "“double-quote,” and some text\n" + "Some text and “double-quote” and an ‘orphan\n" + "“double-quote,” some text and ‘matched l/rsquo’\n" + "Some text and “double-quote” and an ‘orphan and an ’elided word\n" + "“double-quote,” ‘matched l/rsquo’ and an ‘orphan and ’elided word\n" + "Some text, “double-quote,” more text, an ‘orphan and a contract’n\n" + "“double-quote,” some text, and another “double quote.”\n" + "“double-quote,” some text, an ‘orphan and “another double-quote”\n" + "“double-quote,” a ‘matched l/rsquo with an “embedded double-quote” in it.’\n" + "“double-quote,” a ‘matched l/rsquo with an “embedded double-quote” in it’ and an ‘orphan.\n" + "“double-quote,” some text, an ‘orphan, a contract’n, and “another double-quote”\n" + "“double-quote,” some text, another “double-quote,” an ‘orphan and a contract’n\n" + "“double-quote” and “another double-quote” and an ‘orphan and ‘another lsquo\n" + "“double-quote” and some text and an ‘orphan and ‘a matched l/rsquo’\n" + "Some text and “double-quote” and an ‘orphan and ‘a matched l/rsquo with a contract’n’\n" + "some text and an ‘orphan\n" + "some text and an ‘orphan and an ’elided word\n" + "some text and an ‘orphan and a contract’n\n" + "some text ‘orphan, another ‘lsquo, and more text\n" + "some text ‘orphan, a contract’n, another ‘lsquo and ’elided word and more text\n" + "some text, an ‘orphan and a “double-quote with ‘matching l/rsquo’” and more text\n\n" + "Some text, “double quote, with an ‘orphan inside.”\n" + "Some text, “double quote, with a ‘matched l/rsquo inside.’”\n" + "Some text, “double quote, with an ‘orphan and contract’n inside.”\n" + "Some text, “double quote, with an ‘orphan and ’elided word inside.”\n" + "Some text, “double quote, with an ‘orphan and ‘matched l/rsquo inside.’”\n" + "“‘Orphan immediately following double-quote.”\n" + "“‘Matching l/rsquo immediately inside double-quote.’”\n" + "“‘Orphan immediately following double-quote with ‘matched l/rsquo’ inside.”\n" + "“Double quote,” another “double quote with an ‘orphan and ‘matched l/rsquo’”\n" + "“double quote,” another “double quote with an ‘orphan and contract’n and ‘matched l/rsquo’ and more text”"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE | Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE); final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string); while (matcher.find()) { System.out.println("Full match: " + matcher.group(0)); for (int i = 1; i <= matcher.groupCount(); i++) { System.out.println("Group " + i + ": " + matcher.group(i)); } } } }

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 Java, please visit: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html