Regular Expressions 101

Explanation
Pro

-?optionally matches the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:[1-9][0-9]*)?

?repeats the group contents below at most once:

Character Class[1-9]

1-9one character from 1 (49₁₀) to 9 (57₁₀)

Character Class[0-9]*

*matches any number of characters from the set below:

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

Character Class[0-9]{4}

{4}matches exactly 4 characters from the set below:

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

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

Group 1(1[0-2]|0[1-9])

1st Alternative1[0-2]

1the literal 1 (49₁₀ / 61₈ / 31₁₆)

Character Class[0-2]

0-2one character from 0 (48₁₀) to 2 (50₁₀)

2nd Alternative0[1-9]

0the literal 0 (48₁₀ / 60₈ / 30₁₆)

Character Class[1-9]

1-9one character from 1 (49₁₀) to 9 (57₁₀)

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

Group 2(3[01]|0[1-9]|[12][0-9])

1st Alternative3[01]

3the literal 3 (51₁₀ / 63₈ / 33₁₆)

Character Class[01]

0the literal 0 (48₁₀ / 60₈ / 30₁₆)

1the literal 1 (49₁₀ / 61₈ / 31₁₆)

2nd Alternative0[1-9]

0the literal 0 (48₁₀ / 60₈ / 30₁₆)

Character Class[1-9]

1-9one character from 1 (49₁₀) to 9 (57₁₀)

3rd Alternative[12][0-9]

Character Class[12]

1the literal 1 (49₁₀ / 61₈ / 31₁₆)

2the literal 2 (50₁₀ / 62₈ / 32₁₆)

Character Class[0-9]

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

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.

26 tokens

-?(?:[1-9][0-9]*)?[0-9]{4}-(1[0-2]|0[1-9])-(3[01]|0[1-9]|[12][0-9])

2016-12-06
18-15-11
1981-01-01

2016-12-06
18-15-11
1981-01-01