Regular Expressions 101

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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

/
/
gm

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 = "(?m)^([^\\r\\n]+)\\s*\\n([^\\r\\n]+)\\s*\\n([^\\r\\n]+):\\s*([^\\r\\n]+)\\s*\\n([^\\r\\n]+):\\s*([^\\r\\n]+)(?:\\s*\\n([^\\r\\n]+):\\s*([^\\r\\n]+))?\\s*\\nDirections:\\s*\\n((?:.+\\s*\\n?)+?)(?=^[^\\r\\n]+\\s*\\n[^\\r\\n]+\\s*\\n[^\\r\\n]+:|\\z)"; final String string = "Bob's Diner\n" + "Reefer\n" + "Location: Mike's Beef Barn\n" + "Time: 1,584\n" + "Stop: Highway Hotel.\n" + "Directions:\n" + "Go south on Broadway.\n" + "Get on freeway 30 South. Exit Main St.\n" + "Go south on Main to Highway Hotel.\n" + "Go north on Main. Go east on Highway 15. Exit Market St.\n" + "1522 Market St.\n" + "Comfy Pillows and Mattresses\n" + "Dry Van\n" + "Location: Innovative Furniture\n" + "Time: 223\n" + "Directions:\n" + "Turn right and go to Seville Ave.\n" + "Turn left on St. Michael St.\n" + "Go to end at the Comfy Sign.\n" + "Washington County Construction\n" + "Low Boy\n" + "Location: Marble Quarry in Gainesville.\n" + "Time: 1,135\n" + "Stop: Mountainside Motel.\n" + "Directions:\n" + "Make a U-turn on Alameda Ave. and a right on Chantilly Lane.\n" + "Get on freeway 67 East.\n" + "Pass the Hospital and Exit Seward St.\n" + "Turn left on Coral St. to Mountainside Motel on right.\n" + "Exit motel and go east on Jefferson and then right on Belhaven.\n" + "Follow Joelle Ln. to Hwy 49.\n" + "Turn right at the Red Hill Junction. Go east on Harewood Rd.\n" + "Turn left on Blue Heron St.\n" + "8964 Red Rooster St.\n"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE); 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