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
No Match

/
/
gmx

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

$re = '/(?(DEFINE) (?# Definitions ) (?<valid_nameChars>[\p{L}\p{Nl}]) (?<valid_nonNameChars>[^\p{L}\p{Nl}\p{Zs}]) (?<valid_startFirstName>(?![a-z])[\p{L}\']) (?<valid_upperChar>(?![a-z])\p{L}) (?<valid_nameSeparatorsSoft>[\p{Pd}\']) (?<valid_nameSeparatorsHard>\p{Zs}) (?<valid_nameSeparators>(?&valid_nameSeparatorsSoft)|(?&valid_nameSeparatorsHard)) (?# Invalid combinations ) (?<invalid_startChar>^[\p{Zs}a-z]) (?<invalid_endChar>.*[^\p{L}\p{Nl}.\p{C}]$) (?<invalid_unaccompaniedSymbol>.*(?&valid_nameSeparatorsHard)(?&valid_nonNameChars)(?&valid_nameSeparatorsHard)) (?<invalid_overTwoUpper>(?:(?&valid_nameChars)*\p{Lu}){3}) (?<invalid>(?&invalid_startChar)|(?&invalid_endChar)|(?&invalid_unaccompaniedSymbol)|(?&invalid_overTwoUpper)) (?# Valid combinations ) (?<valid_name>(?:(?:(?&valid_nameChars)|(?&valid_nameSeparatorsSoft))*(?&valid_nameChars)+(?:(?&valid_nameChars)|(?&valid_nameSeparatorsSoft))*)+\.?) (?<valid_firstName>(?&valid_startFirstName)(?:\.|(?&valid_name)*)) (?<valid_multipleName>(?&valid_firstName)(?=.*(?&valid_nameSeparators)(?&valid_upperChar))(?:(?&valid_nameSeparatorsHard)(?&valid_name))+) (?<valid>(?&valid_multipleName)|(?&valid_firstName)) ) ^(?!(?&invalid))(?&valid)$/mx'; $str = '== 1NcOrrect N4M3S == CAPITAL LETTER AlTeRnAtE LeTtEr Natalia maria Natalia aria Natalia orea Maria dornelas Samuel eto\' Miguel lasagna Antony1 de Home Ap*ril Ap*ril Willians Antony_ de Home Apr+il Ant_ony de Home Apr#il Antony@ de Ho@me Apr^il Maria Silva Maria silva maria Silva Maria Silva Maria Silva Maria / Silva Maria . Silva John W8 ==Correct Names== Urxan Əbűlhəsənzadə İsmət Jafarov Şükür Hagverdiyev Űmid Abdurrahimov Ġerardo Seralta Ċikku Paris Hind ibn Sheik Colop-U-Uichikin Lażżru Role Alaksiej Taraškievič Petruso Husoǔski Sumu-la-El Valeh ßlÿsgÿroğlu \'Arab al-Rashayida Tariq al-Hashimi Nabeeh el-Mady Tariq Al-Hashimi Brian O\'Conner Maria da Silva Maria Silva Maria G. Silva Maria McDuffy Getúlio Dornelles Vargas Maria das Flores John Smith John D\'Largy John Doe-Smith John Doe Smith Hector Sausage-Hausen Mathias d\'Arras Martin Luther King Jr. Ai Wong Chao Chang Alzbeta Bara Marcos Assunção Maria da Silva e Silva Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Maria da Costa e Silva Samuel Eto\'o María Antonieta de las Nieves Eugène Antòny de Homé April àntony de Home ùpril Antony de Home Aprìl Pierre de l\'Estache Pierre de L\'Estoile Akihito Nadine Schröder Anna A. Møller D. Pedro I Pope Benedict XVI Marsibil Ragnarsdóttir Natanaël Morel Isaac De la Croix Jean-Michel Bozonnet Qutaibah Mu\'tazz Abadi Rushd Jawna\' Kassab Khaldun Abdul-Qahhar Sabbag \'Awad Bashshar Asker Al B. Zellweger Gunnleif Snæ-Ulfsson Käre Toresson Sorli Ærnmundsson Arnkel Øystæinsson Ástríður Dórey Åsmund Kåresson Yahatti-Il Ipqu-Annunitum Nabu-zar-adan Eskopas Cañaverri Botolph of Langchester Aelfhun the Cantrell Fraco di Natale Fraco Di Natale Iván de Luca Iván De Luca Man\'nah Atabala Aüamusalü Ramiz Ağasəfalu Dadaş Aghakhanov Fÿrxad Mübarizlı Vaclaǔ Šupa Yakiv Volacič Flor Van Vaerenbergh Flor van Vaerenbergh Edwin van der Sar Husein Ekmečić Álvaro Guimarães Alencar Phone U Yaza Arkar Seocan MacGhille X\'wat\'e Tlekadugovy Albert-Jan Bootsveld Maurits-jan Kuipers op den Kollenstaart Elco ter Hoek Robbert te Poele Aad ten Have \'Ehu Kali Ho\'opa\'a Loni Aukanai\'i Mahi\'ai Kalman ben Tal El Żytomir Roszkowski K\'awai ==EXTRA== only if possible, strange ones Maol-Moire Mac\'IlleBhuidh Tòmas MacIlleChruim Aindreas MacIllEathain Eanruig MacGilleBhreac Peadar MacGilleDhonaghart Maolmhuire MacGill-Eain Eanruig MacGilleBhreac Wim van \'t Plasman'; preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0); // Print the entire match result var_dump($matches);

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 PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php