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

/
/
gm

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

import Foundation let pattern = #"(ON|JOIN|WHERE|OR|AND)(\s*?.*)(?<func_name>[a-zA-Z]*?\((?<params>[\w\s\.]+)\))"# let regex = try! NSRegularExpression(pattern: pattern, options: .anchorsMatchLines) let testString = #""" -- From: https://bertwagner.com/posts/how-to-search-and-destroy-non-sargable-queries-on-your-server/ SELECT Name FROM dbo.CoffeeInventory WHERE CONVERT(CHAR(10),CreateDate,121) = '2017-08-19' SELECT Name, CreateDate FROM dbo.CoffeeInventory WHERE DAY(CreateDate) = 19 We want to make it SARGable by doing this instead: SELECT Name, CreateDate FROM dbo.CoffeeInventory WHERE CreateDate >= '2017-08-19 00:00:00' AND CreateDate < '2017-08-20 00:00:00' ---- REAL WORLD SELECT a.rowid , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.ordnum)) AS ordnum , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.itemnum)) AS itemnum , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.descript)) AS descript , a.ordtype , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.name)) AS name , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.number)) AS number , a.qtyord , a.extension , a.price , a.deldate , a.sfstatus , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.slpcode)) AS slpcode , a.grouporder , a.allocated , a.allocamt , ISNULL(LTRIM(RTRIM(a.slpname)), '') AS slpname , CASE WHEN b.custponum LIKE '%REPL%' OR b.custponum LIKE 'RMA%' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END AS IsReturn , LTRIM(RTRIM(b.custponum)) AS custponum , a.alloc_flag , a.keyid , d.comment , f.comment AS custcomment , b.orddate , a.etadate , a.EtaDisplayString , LTRIM(RTRIM(a.filenum)) AS filenum , a.credithold_cust , a.credithold_so , a.sfstatus_name , ISNULL(b.ordtot,0) AS ordtot , b.Comment AS GoldenSoComment , h.termcode , h.crlimit , g.InvoiceTotal -- (h.crlimit - ISNULL(g.InvoiceTotal,0)) AS AvailableCredit , CASE WHEN h.crlimit < (h.crlimit - ISNULL(g.InvoiceTotal,0)) THEN h.crlimit ELSE (h.crlimit - ISNULL(g.InvoiceTotal,0)) END AS AvailableCredit , LTRIM(RTRIM(b.repcode)) AS repcode , a.shipgroup , 'readytoship' = CASE WHEN b.ordtype IN ('S', 'B') AND ( -- Credit Card On File b.termcode IN ('CC') -- Has Terms and Available Credit OR CHARINDEX(LEFT(b.termcode,1),'1234567890') > 1 ) AND b.credithold = 0 AND h.credithold = 0 AND i.whcode IN ('A') AND b.deldate <= GETDATE() AND CHARINDEX('RESERVE',UPPER(b.custponum)) = 0 AND a.alloc_flag = 2 AND a.shipgroup = 0 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END , CASE WHEN b.paymethod = 'P' THEN 'PREPAID' WHEN b.paymethod = 'U' THEN 'PICKUP' WHEN b.paymethod = 'C' THEN 'COLLECT' WHEN b.paymethod = 'T' THEN 'THIRD PARTY' ELSE '' END AS paymethod , CASE WHEN b.paymethod = 'P' THEN CASE WHEN b.fslid = 1 THEN 'STANDARD' WHEN b.fslid = 2 THEN 'EXPEDITED' WHEN b.fslid = 3 THEN 'RUSH' ELSE '' END ELSE '' END AS fsl , b.credcard , b.onetimecard FROM RSRPT_ItemAllocation a -- LEFT JOIN ODS.dbo.vwSOORDEHT b ON LTRIM(RTRIM(a.ordnum)) = LTRIM(RTRIM(b.ordnum)) LEFT JOIN data_SODetailProperties d ON a.keyid = d.keyid LEFT JOIN data_CustomerProperties f ON a.number = f.number LEFT JOIN ( SELECT [cust no] AS number , SUM([Amount Open]) AS InvoiceTotal FROM pivot_ARAging GROUP BY [cust no] ) g ON a.number = g.number INNER JOIN ODS..vwarcustmm h ON a.number = h.number LEFT JOIN ODS..soordedt i ON a.ordnum = LTRIM(RTRIM(i.ordnum)) AND a.keyid = LTRIM(RTRIM(i.keyid)) -- short query -- Newlined select RTRIM(LTRIM(ordnum)) as ordnum_trimmed from ODS.dbo.vwSOORDEHT where ordnum = LTRIM(RTRIM(ordnum)) -- Inlined select RTRIM(LTRIM(ordnum)) as ordnum_trimmed from ODS.dbo.vwSOORDEHT where ordnum = LTRIM(RTRIM(@ordnum)) """# let stringRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: testString.utf16.count) let matches = regex.matches(in: testString, range: stringRange) var result: [[String]] = [] for match in matches { var groups: [String] = [] for rangeIndex in 1 ..< match.numberOfRanges { let nsRange = match.range(at: rangeIndex) guard !NSEqualRanges(nsRange, NSMakeRange(NSNotFound, 0)) else { continue } let string = (testString as NSString).substring(with: nsRange) groups.append(string) } if !groups.isEmpty { result.append(groups) } } print(result)

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 Swift 5.2, please visit: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsregularexpression