Regular Expressions 101

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  • Unit Tests (18)

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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

/
/
x

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 = "# Anchor the pattern so we do the duplicate scan only once\n" + "\\A\n\n" + "# For each letter, test to see if it's duplicated in the input string\n" + "(?(?=[^a]*+a[^a]*a)(?<da>))\n" + "(?(?=[^b]*+b[^b]*b)(?<db>))\n" + "(?(?=[^c]*+c[^c]*c)(?<dc>))\n" + "(?(?=[^d]*+d[^d]*d)(?<dd>))\n" + "(?(?=[^e]*+e[^e]*e)(?<de>))\n" + "(?(?=[^f]*+f[^f]*f)(?<df>))\n" + "(?(?=[^g]*+g[^g]*g)(?<dg>))\n" + "(?(?=[^h]*+h[^h]*h)(?<dh>))\n" + "(?(?=[^i]*+i[^i]*i)(?<di>))\n" + "(?(?=[^j]*+j[^j]*j)(?<dj>))\n" + "(?(?=[^k]*+k[^k]*k)(?<dk>))\n" + "(?(?=[^l]*+l[^l]*l)(?<dl>))\n" + "(?(?=[^m]*+m[^m]*m)(?<dm>))\n" + "(?(?=[^n]*+n[^n]*n)(?<dn>))\n" + "(?(?=[^o]*+o[^o]*o)(?<do>))\n" + "(?(?=[^p]*+p[^p]*p)(?<dp>))\n" + "(?(?=[^q]*+q[^q]*q)(?<dq>))\n" + "(?(?=[^r]*+r[^r]*r)(?<dr>))\n" + "(?(?=[^s]*+s[^s]*s)(?<ds>))\n" + "(?(?=[^t]*+t[^t]*t)(?<dt>))\n" + "(?(?=[^u]*+u[^u]*u)(?<du>))\n" + "(?(?=[^v]*+v[^v]*v)(?<dv>))\n" + "(?(?=[^w]*+w[^w]*w)(?<dw>))\n" + "(?(?=[^x]*+x[^x]*x)(?<dx>))\n" + "(?(?=[^y]*+y[^y]*y)(?<dy>))\n" + "(?(?=[^z]*+z[^z]*z)(?<dz>))\n\n" + "# Skip any duplicated letter and throw it away\n" + "[a-z]*?\\K\n\n" + "# Check if the next letter is a duplicate\n" + "(?:\n" + " a (*THEN) (?(da)(*FAIL))\n" + "| b (*THEN) (?(db)(*FAIL))\n" + "| c (*THEN) (?(dc)(*FAIL))\n" + "| d (*THEN) (?(dd)(*FAIL))\n" + "| e (*THEN) (?(de)(*FAIL))\n" + "| f (*THEN) (?(df)(*FAIL))\n" + "| g (*THEN) (?(dg)(*FAIL))\n" + "| h (*THEN) (?(dh)(*FAIL))\n" + "| i (*THEN) (?(di)(*FAIL))\n" + "| j (*THEN) (?(dj)(*FAIL))\n" + "| k (*THEN) (?(dk)(*FAIL))\n" + "| l (*THEN) (?(dl)(*FAIL))\n" + "| m (*THEN) (?(dm)(*FAIL))\n" + "| n (*THEN) (?(dn)(*FAIL))\n" + "| o (*THEN) (?(do)(*FAIL))\n" + "| p (*THEN) (?(dp)(*FAIL))\n" + "| q (*THEN) (?(dq)(*FAIL))\n" + "| r (*THEN) (?(dr)(*FAIL))\n" + "| s (*THEN) (?(ds)(*FAIL))\n" + "| t (*THEN) (?(dt)(*FAIL))\n" + "| u (*THEN) (?(du)(*FAIL))\n" + "| v (*THEN) (?(dv)(*FAIL))\n" + "| w (*THEN) (?(dw)(*FAIL))\n" + "| x (*THEN) (?(dx)(*FAIL))\n" + "| y (*THEN) (?(dy)(*FAIL))\n" + "| z (*THEN) (?(dz)(*FAIL))\n" + ")\n"; final String string = "hahxyza"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.COMMENTS); final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string); if (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