regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

^start of line

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

Group 1([A-Za-z ]*[A-Za-z])

Character Class[A-Za-z ]*

*matches any number of characters from the set below:

A-Zone character from A (65₁₀) to Z (90₁₀) (case sensitive)

a-zone character from a (97₁₀) to z (122₁₀) (case sensitive)

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

Character Class[A-Za-z]

A-Zone character from A (65₁₀) to Z (90₁₀) (case sensitive)

a-zone character from a (97₁₀) to z (122₁₀) (case sensitive)

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

Group 2(\+\d+)?+

?+repeats the group contents below at most once:

\+the literal + (43₁₀ / 53₈ / 2B₁₆)

\d+a digit, repeated at least once

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

Branch Reset Group(?|,?+ *+$ *+(.*\S) *$ *|,?+ *+(.*\S) *)?

?repeats the group contents below at most once:

1st Alternative,?+ *+$ *+(.*\S) *$ *

,?+optionally matches the literal , (44₁₀ / 54₈ / 2C₁₆)

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

\(the literal ( (40₁₀ / 50₈ / 28₁₆)

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

Group 3(.*\S)

.*any character (except for line terminators), repeated any number of times

\Sany non-whitespace character

*the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

\)the literal ) (41₁₀ / 51₈ / 29₁₆)

*the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

2nd Alternative,?+ *+(.*\S) *

,?+optionally matches the literal , (44₁₀ / 54₈ / 2C₁₆)

*+the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

Group 3(.*\S)

.*any character (except for line terminators), repeated any number of times

\Sany non-whitespace character

*the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆) , repeated any number of times

$end of line

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

Search reference

Regular Expression

^ *+([A-Za-z ]*[A-Za-z]) *+(\+\d+)?+ *+(?|,?+ *+\( *+(.*\S) *\) *|,?+ *+(.*\S) *)?$

New

John Smith   ,    drink
John Smith
John Smith +1
John Smith (drink)
John Smith              (    drink      )         
John Smith, drink
John Smith   +1   ,    drink
John Smith +1 (drink)
John Smith +1, drink
John Smith +1 drink

Regular Expressions 101

Regular Expression

Extraction