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

/
/
gm

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

re = />[^<>]+</m str = '<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <title>Suessgraeser</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="expeditn 011, default"> <meta name="Microsoft Border" content="none, default"> </head> <body background="../../_themes/expeditn/exptextb.jpg" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#993300" vlink="#666600" alink="#CC3300"><!--mstheme--><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"> <p align="center"><!--webbot bot="Navigation" S-Type="top" S-Orientation="horizontal" S-Rendering="graphics" B-Include-Home="TRUE" B-Include-Up="TRUE" U-Page S-Target startspan --><script language="JavaScript"><!-- MSFPhover = (((navigator.appName == "Netscape") && (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 3 )) || ((navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer") && (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4 ))); function MSFPpreload(img) { var a=new Image(); a.src=img; return a; } // --></script><script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav1n=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/home_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav1h=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/home_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../index.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav1\'].src=MSFPnav1h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav1\'].src=MSFPnav1n.src"><img src="../../_derived/home_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Home" align="middle" name="MSFPnav1"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav2n=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/up_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav2h=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/up_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../monoco_gras.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav2\'].src=MSFPnav2h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav2\'].src=MSFPnav2n.src"><img src="../../_derived/up_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Nach oben" align="middle" name="MSFPnav2"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav3n=MSFPpreload("../../Hauptgruppen/_derived/Systematik.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav3h=MSFPpreload("../../Hauptgruppen/_derived/Systematik.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../Hauptgruppen/Systematik.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav3\'].src=MSFPnav3h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav3\'].src=MSFPnav3n.src"><img src="../../Hauptgruppen/_derived/Systematik.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Systematik" align="middle" name="MSFPnav3"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav4n=MSFPpreload("../../Bestimmung/_derived/bestimmung.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav4h=MSFPpreload("../../Bestimmung/_derived/bestimmung.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../Bestimmung/bestimmung.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav4\'].src=MSFPnav4h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav4\'].src=MSFPnav4n.src"><img src="../../Bestimmung/_derived/bestimmung.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Bestimmung" align="middle" name="MSFPnav4"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav5n=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/bestimmungsschluessel.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav5h=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/bestimmungsschluessel.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../bestimmungsschluessel.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav5\'].src=MSFPnav5h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav5\'].src=MSFPnav5n.src"><img src="../../_derived/bestimmungsschluessel.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Familien" align="middle" name="MSFPnav5"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav6n=MSFPpreload("../../Fundorte/_derived/fundorte.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav6h=MSFPpreload("../../Fundorte/_derived/fundorte.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../Fundorte/fundorte.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav6\'].src=MSFPnav6h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav6\'].src=MSFPnav6n.src"><img src="../../Fundorte/_derived/fundorte.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Fundorte" align="middle" name="MSFPnav6"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav7n=MSFPpreload("../../Fachbegriffe/_derived/fachbegriffe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav7h=MSFPpreload("../../Fachbegriffe/_derived/fachbegriffe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../Fachbegriffe/fachbegriffe.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav7\'].src=MSFPnav7h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav7\'].src=MSFPnav7n.src"><img src="../../Fachbegriffe/_derived/fachbegriffe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Fachbegriffe" align="middle" name="MSFPnav7"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav8n=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/artenverzeichnis1.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav8h=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/artenverzeichnis1.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../artenverzeichnis1.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav8\'].src=MSFPnav8h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav8\'].src=MSFPnav8n.src"><img src="../../_derived/artenverzeichnis1.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Artenverzeichnis" align="middle" name="MSFPnav8"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav9n=MSFPpreload("../../Hilfe/_derived/hilfe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav9h=MSFPpreload("../../Hilfe/_derived/hilfe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../Hilfe/hilfe.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav9\'].src=MSFPnav9h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav9\'].src=MSFPnav9n.src"><img src="../../Hilfe/_derived/hilfe.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Hilfe" align="middle" name="MSFPnav9"></a> <script language="JavaScript"><!-- if(MSFPhover) { MSFPnav10n=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/saatblumen.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif"); MSFPnav10h=MSFPpreload("../../_derived/saatblumen.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn_a.gif"); } // --></script><a href="../../saatblumen.htm" language="JavaScript" onmouseover="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav10\'].src=MSFPnav10h.src" onmouseout="if(MSFPhover) document[\'MSFPnav10\'].src=MSFPnav10n.src"><img src="../../_derived/saatblumen.htm_cmp_expeditn010_hbtn.gif" width="140" height="50" border="0" alt="Saatblumen" align="middle" name="MSFPnav10"></a><!--webbot bot="Navigation" endspan i-checksum="53857" --> </p> <p align="center"><b><font color="#FF0000" size="6">Familie:&nbsp;Süßgräser (Poaceae, Graminaceae)</font></b></p> <p align="center"><b><font size="4" color="#0000FF">Zur Familie gehören 668 Gattungen mit ca. 1000 Arten.</font></b></p> <p align="center"><b><font color="#0000FF" size="4">Süßgräser sind gekennzeichnet durch einen runden, hohlen rundlichen Halm.&nbsp;<br> Viele <a href="getreide.htm">Getreidearten</a> gehören zu den Süßgräsern.</font></b></p> <p align="center"> <font size="4" color="#0000FF"><b>&gt; <a href="aufbau_suessgras.htm">Zum Aufbau eines Süßgrases</a></b></font></p> <!--mstheme--></font><table border="1" width="100%" bordercolordark="#660000" bordercolorlight="#CC9966"> <tr> <td width="50%" align="center" valign="top"><!--mstheme--><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><b><font size="3">&nbsp;Pflanze 1, 5 m - 6 m groß<br> Halm mindestens 1 cm&nbsp;dick<br> &gt; <a href="gras_gross.htm">Große Gräser</a></font></b> <p><b><img border="0" src="P1530625.JPG_a.jpg" width="272" height="581"></b><!--mstheme--></font></td> <td width="50%" align="center" valign="top"><!--mstheme--><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"><b><font size="3"> Pflanzen kleiner<br> Halm dünner als 1 cm<br> &gt; <a href="gras_klein.htm">Kleine Gräser</a></font></b><!--mstheme--></font></td> </tr> </table><!--mstheme--><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"> <p align="left"><b><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</font></b></p> <p align="left">&nbsp;</p> <!--mstheme--></font></body> </html> ' # Print the match result str.scan(re) do |match| puts match.to_s end

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 Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html