Regular Expressions 101

Save & Share

  • Regex Version: ver. 4
  • 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
No Match

/
/
g

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "\\{[^\\}\\{]*?\"content\":[^\\}\\{,]*?(imgur\\.com)[^\\}\\{,]*?,[^\\}\\{]*?\"from\":[^\\}\\{,]*?(ken_8520)[^\\}\\{,]*?,[^\\}]*?\\}"; final String string = "{\"id\": \"1508640338717\",\n" + "\"displayName\": null,\n" + "\"originalarrivaltime\": \"2017-10-25T14:08:57.128Z\",\n" + "\"messagetype\": \"RichText\",\n" + "\"version\": 1508640338717,\n" + "\"content\": \"<a href=\\\"https://i.imgur.com/RTzSZiY.jpeg\\\">https://i.imgur.com/RTzSZiY.jpeg</a><e_m ts=\\\"1508940494\\\" ts_ms=\\\"1508940494784\\\" a=\\\"live:ken_8520\\\" t=\\\"61\\\"/>\",\n" + "\"conversationid\": \"8:markv\",\n" + "\"from\": \"8:live:ken_8520\",\n" + "\"properties\": null,\n" + "\"amsreferences\": null},\n\n" + "{\"id\": \"1508454757179\",\n" + "\"displayName\": null,\n" + "\"originalarrivaltime\": \"2017-10-23T10:29:14.857Z\",\n" + "\"messagetype\": \"RichText\",\n" + "\"version\": 1508454757179,\n" + "\"content\": \"<a href=\\\"https://i.imgur.com/hhSOfJu.jpeg\\\">https://i.imgur.com/hhSOfJu.jpeg</a><e_m ts=\\\"1508754504\\\" ts_ms=\\\"1508754504997\\\" a=\\\"live:ken_8520\\\" t=\\\"61\\\"/>\",\n" + "\"conversationid\": \"8:markv\",\n" + "\"from\": \"8:live:ken_8520\",\n" + "\"properties\": null,\n" + "\"amsreferences\": null},\n\n" + "{\"id\": \"1508405154918\",\n" + "\"displayName\": null,\n" + "\"originalarrivaltime\": \"2017-10-14T18:19:13.66Z\",\n" + "\"messagetype\": \"RichText\",\n" + "\"version\": 1508405154918,\n" + "\"content\": \"<a href=\\\"https://i.imgur.com/u1QFzVu.gif\\\">https://i.imgur.com/u1QFzVu.gif</a>\",\n" + "\"conversationid\": \"8:markv\",\n" + "\"from\": \"8:live:ken_8520\",\n" + "\"properties\": null,\n" + "\"amsreferences\": null},\n\n" + "{\"id\": \"1515194882829\",\n" + "\"displayName\": null,\n" + "\"originalarrivaltime\": \"2018-01-05T20:41:19.069Z\",\n" + "\"messagetype\": \"RichText\",\n" + "\"version\": 1515194882829,\n" + "\"content\": \"<a href=\\\"https://i.imgur.com/IxcxW.gif\\\">https://i.imgur.com/IxcxW.gif</a>\",\n" + "\"conversationid\": \"8:markv\",\n" + "\"from\": \"8:live:ken_8520\",\n" + "\"properties\": {\n" + " \"urlpreviews\": \"[{\\\"key\\\":\\\"https://i.imgur.com/IxcxW.gif\\\",\\\"value\\\":{\\\"url\\\":\\\"https://i.imgur.com/IxcxW.gif\\\",\\\"size\\\":\\\"499834\\\",\\\"status_code\\\":\\\"200\\\",\\\"content_type\\\":\\\"image/gif\\\",\\\"site\\\":\\\"i.imgur.com\\\",\\\"category\\\":\\\"generic\\\",\\\"favicon\\\":\\\"https://neu1-urlp.secure.skypeassets.com/static/imgur-16x16.ico\\\",\\\"favicon_meta\\\":{\\\"width\\\":16,\\\"height\\\":16},\\\"thumbnail\\\":\\\"https://neu1-urlp.secure.skypeassets.com/img1/48c8cb02-cbff-4f3a-b7da-2c140a8d1b24.gif\\\",\\\"thumbnail_meta\\\":{\\\"width\\\":216,\\\"height\\\":207},\\\"user_pic\\\":\\\"\\\"}}]\"\n" + "},\n" + "\"amsreferences\": null}"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex); 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