Regular Expressions 101

Non-Capturing Group(?:(?:[\\])\*\*(?:.+?)\*\*|(?:[^\\\n]|^)(\*\*.+\*\*))

1st Alternative(?:[\\])\*\*(?:.+?)\*\*

Non-Capturing Group(?:[\\])

Character Class[\\]

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

\*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:.+?)

.+?any character (except for line terminators), repeated at least once

\*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

2nd Alternative(?:[^\\\n]|^)(\*\*.+\*\*)

Non-Capturing Group(?:[^\\\n]|^)

1st Alternative[^\\\n]

Negated Character Class[^\\\n]

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

\na line-feed (newline) character (ASCII 10)

2nd Alternative^

^start of line

Group 1(\*\*.+\*\*)

\*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

.+any character (except for line terminators), repeated at least once

\*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

Global pattern flags

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

m modifier: multiline. Causes ^ and $ to match the start and end of each line, not only the start and end of the string

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

Search reference

Regular Expression

(?:(?:[\\])\*\*(?:.+?)\*\*|(?:[^\\\n]|^)(\*\*.+\*\*))

New

**bold**
\**not**
**foo * bar **
\**not again** **This is Ok**
**foo \** bar**