Regular Expressions 101

Save & Share

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

/
/
mg

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

const regex = /<\w[^>]*>(?=<)|(?<=>)<\/\w[^>]*>/mg; // Alternative syntax using RegExp constructor // const regex = new RegExp('<\\w[^>]*>(?=<)|(?<=>)<\\\/\\w[^>]*>', 'mg') const str = `{http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope}Sender||BEA-382505 : OSB Validate action failed validation||<soap12-env:Detail xmlns:soap12-env="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope"><fault><errorCode xmlns:soap12-env="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">BEA-382505</errorCode><reason>OSB Validate action failed validation</reason><details><ValidationFailureDetail><message>string value 'ROM' is not a valid enumeration value for CountryAlpha3CodeSimpleType in namespace http://release.niem.gov/niem/codes/nga_genc/3.0/</message><xmlLocation><LocationCountryGENCCode>ROM</LocationCountryGENCCode></xmlLocation></ValidationFailureDetail></details><location><node>PipelinePairNode5</node><pipeline>PipelinePairNode5_request</pipeline><stage>ValidateMessage</stage><path>request-pipeline</path></location></fault></soap12-env:Detail>`; // 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