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

/
/
gi

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "(\\[(?<first>icode|quote|code)[^\\]]*?\\](?:[\\s]*?.)*?[\\s]*?\\[\\/(?:\\k<first>)\\])"; final String string = "[quote]Id in voluptatem [U]odit itaque[/U] ea. Qui eum [URL='http://#']fugiat[/URL] doloribus dicta nisi. [icode]Exercitationem sit error maxime aperiam quaerat hic deleniti quidem[/icode]. Totam laudantium aut quia. \"Sint ut ut vel ratione,\" Qui porro eaque enim fugit.\n" + "[/quote]\n\n" + "Quam consequatur consequatur voluptate molestiae explicabo [icode]qui consectetur[/ICODE], \"Voluptatem saepe [b]ex adipisci aut est rem[/b].\" Numquam a cupiditate non officiis sed aspernatur.\n\n" + "[quote=\"Lorem Ipsum, post: 12345, member: 123\"]Aut deleniti nihil sit. Saepe dolorem blanditiis nemo. Ab et cumque nesciunt. Quos velit vel nam porro.[/quote]\n\n" + "[spoiler=\"Name\"]Unde et eius tempore consequatur. \"Vitae est ut et,\" est numquam.\"\"[/spoiler]\n\n" + "Quo <span style=\"color: #24c4f9\"><b>suscipit</b></span> sequi id ratione \"doloribus omnis\".\n\n" + "<span style=\"font-family: 'Lucida Console'\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px\">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.\n" + "\"\n" + "Maecenas sed nibh ac neque semper finibus.\n" + "Saepe dolorem blanditiis nemo.\n" + "\"\n" + "</b></span>\n\n" + "[CODE=html]\n\n" + "Vivamus hendrerit augue \"volutpat\", consequat risus sed, dignissim orci.\n\n" + "Fusce sed pellentesque ipsum. Suspendisse nisi odio, gravida sed leo ut, tristique posuere felis.\n" + "[/CODE]\n\n" + "Ut tempor vestibulum viverra. Vivamus imperdiet fringilla est fermentum facilisis. Quisque nec massa sit amet augue eleifend condimentum at nec arcu.\n\n" + "[CENTER][B]Quam consequa[/B] \"tur c[I]onse[/I]quatur\". Eum molestias \"et\" doloribus et rem dolorem vero qui.[/CENTER]"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE); 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