Regular Expressions 101

Explanation

Pro

1st Alternative(?:(['"])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1|\d+(?:\s*[*\/+x-]\s*\d+)*)(*SKIP)(*F)

Non-Capturing Group(?:(['"])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1|\d+(?:\s*[*\/+x-]\s*\d+)*)

1st Alternative(['"])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1

Group 1(['"])

Character Class['"]

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:\\\1|.)*?

*?repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative\\\1

\\the literal \ (92₁₀ / 134₈ / 5C₁₆)

\1the text saved by group 1

2nd Alternative.

.any character (except for line terminators)

\1the text saved by group 1

2nd Alternative\d+(?:\s*[*\/+x-]\s*\d+)*

\d+a digit, repeated at least once

Non-Capturing Group(?:\s*[*\/+x-]\s*\d+)*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Character Class[*\/+x-]

*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

\/the literal / (47₁₀ / 57₈ / 2F₁₆)

+the literal + (43₁₀ / 53₈ / 2B₁₆)

xthe literal x (120₁₀ / 170₈ / 78₁₆) (case sensitive)

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

\s*any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

\d+a digit, repeated at least once

(*SKIP)acts like (*PRUNE), but the next unanchored match attempt starts where (*SKIP) was reached instead of at the next subject character

(*F)forces the current match attempt to fail at this position

2nd Alternative(?=\S)[^'"0-9+\-%*\/<>\!=&|]+

Positive Lookahead(?=\S)

\Sany non-whitespace character

Negated Character Class[^'"0-9+\-%*\/<>\!=&|]+

+matches at least one character outside the set below:

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

"the literal " (34₁₀ / 42₈ / 22₁₆)

0-9one character from 0 (48₁₀) to 9 (57₁₀)

+the literal + (43₁₀ / 53₈ / 2B₁₆)

\-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

%the literal % (37₁₀ / 45₈ / 25₁₆)

*the literal * (42₁₀ / 52₈ / 2A₁₆)

\/the literal / (47₁₀ / 57₈ / 2F₁₆)

<the literal < (60₁₀ / 74₈ / 3C₁₆)

>the literal > (62₁₀ / 76₈ / 3E₁₆)

\!the literal ! (33₁₀ / 41₈ / 21₁₆)

=the literal = (61₁₀ / 75₈ / 3D₁₆)

&the literal & (38₁₀ / 46₈ / 26₁₆)

|the literal | (124₁₀ / 174₈ / 7C₁₆)

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

Match Information

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

Quick Reference

25 tokens

Regular Expression

(?:(['"])(?:\\\1|.)*?\1|\d+(?:\s*[*\/+x-]\s*\d+)*)(*SKIP)(*F)|(?=\S)[^'"0-9+\-%*\/<>\!=&|]+

New

Hello world "This is a test"
"Another test" 5 x 4
'And this has an escaped quote don\'t in it ' Blue Boy
"This has a single quote ' but doesn't end the quote as it started with double quotes"
hello
28 + 2 / 10 * 3 abc
" Lorem ipsum dolor\" sit 'amet' "

Substitution

Hello world "This is a test"
"Another test" 5 x 4
'And this has an escaped quote don\'t in it ' Blue Boy
"This has a single quote ' but doesn't end the quote as it started with double quotes"
hello
28 + 2 / 10 * 3 abc
" Lorem ipsum dolor\" sit 'amet' "