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

use strict; my $str = '== Real scc Mary Bills <marybil@softcomputer.com> <ellie@softcomputer.com> <thereasaw@softcomputer.com> test@softcomputer.com <test@softcomputer.com> olexiyry@softcomputer.com <olexiyry@softcomputer.com> Deseriee Harkins <deseriee@softcomputer.com> == Forged scc Dorota Mazurek <dorotam@softcomputer.com> <reservations@nesthotel.com> Nikki Taft <nicolet@softcomputer.com> <Muhammad.owais@abtach.com> Lynette Didia <ldidia@softcomputer.com> <Muhammad.owais@abtach.com> Dorota Mazurek <dorotam@softcomputer.com> <centralbookings@kbcsa.co.za> Jeffrey Marr <jeffreym@softcomputer.com> <srvadv5.blr@vw-ppsmotors.co.in> Iryna Dmytriyeva @SCC <idmy@softcomputer.com> <sc@grupoinrexsa.com> Vickie Nix vickieh@softcomputer.com <m.recovery@albarondebt.com> Bill Young <billyo@softcomputer.com> <sara@eaurenaissance.com> == Questionable "Kurt Veith <kurtv@softcomputer.com>" <marlene.robles@mld.com.mx> "softcomputer.com" <MAIL.QUOTA@servers.com> "marksm@softcomputer.com" <mark560sl@gmail.com> == Valid non-forged addresses "sarahze@softcomputer.com via Smartsheet" <user@smartsheet.com> "yuvi softcomputer.com" <hugginshospital.notification@zixmessagecenter.com> <technicalsupport@softcomputer.com.au> "Secure Email From yevgeny@softcomputer.com via Message Pickup Center" <emx-intermedia@securemail.intermedia.net> "Secure Email From yevgeny@softcomputer.com via Message Pickup Center" <emx-intermedia@securemail.intermedia.net> "mpettis@softcomputer.com via SurveyMonkey" <member@surveymonkeyuser.com>'; my $regex = qr/.*@softcomputer\.com>? *(?:"? *<\S+> *)?$/mp; if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) { print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n"; # print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n"; # print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n"; } # ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p' # Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}

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 Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html