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
Processing...

Test String

Substitution
Processing...

Code Generator

Generated Code

$re = '/(.*?)\[(.*)\]/'; $str = 'Canada [CA] United States [US] Afghanistan [AF] Albania [AL] Algeria [DZ] American Samoa [AS] Andorra [AD] Angola [AO] Anguilla [AI] Antarctica [AQ] Antigua And Barbuda [AG] Argentina [AR] Armenia [AM] Aruba [AW] Australia [AU] Austria [AT] Azerbaijan [AZ] Bahamas [BS] Bahrain [BH] Bangladesh [BD] Barbados [BB] Belarus [BY] Belgium [BE] Belize [BZ] Benin [BJ] Bermuda [BM] Bhutan [BT] Bolivia [BO] Bosnia And Herzegovina [BA] Botswana [BW] Bouvet Island [BV] Brazil [BR] British Indian Ocean Territory [IO] Brunei Darussalam [BN] Bulgaria [BG] Burkina Faso [BF] Burundi [BI] Cambodia [KH] Cameroon [CM] Cape Verde [CV] Cayman Islands [KY] Central African Republic [CF] Chad [TD] Chile [CL] China [CN] Christmas Island [CX] Cocos (keeling) Islands [CC] Colombia [CO] Comoros [KM] Congo [CG] Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The [CD] Cook Islands [CK] Costa Rica [CR] Cote D\'ivoire [CI] Croatia [HR] Cuba [CU] Cyprus [CY] Czech Republic [CZ] Denmark [DK] Djibouti [DJ] Dominica [DM] Dominican Republic [DO] East Timor [TP] Ecuador [EC] Egypt [EG] El Salvador [SV] Equatorial Guinea [GQ] Eritrea [ER] Estonia [EE] Ethiopia [ET] Falkland Islands (malvinas) [FK] Faroe Islands [FO] Fiji [FJ] Finland [FI] France [FR] French Guiana [GF] French Polynesia [PF] French Southern Territories [TF] Gabon [GA] Gambia [GM] Georgia [GE] Germany [DE] Ghana [GH] Gibraltar [GI] Greece [GR] Greenland [GL] Grenada [GD] Guadeloupe [GP] Guam [GU] Guatemala [GT] Guinea [GN] Guinea-bissau [GW] Guyana [GY] Haiti [HT] Heard Island And Mcdonald Islands [HM] Holy See (vatican City State) [VA] Honduras [HN] Hong Kong [HK] Hungary [HU] Iceland [IS] India [IN] Indonesia [ID] Iran, Islamic Republic Of [IR] Iraq [IQ] Ireland [IE] Israel [IL] Italy [IT] Jamaica [JM] Japan [JP] Jordan [JO] Kazakstan [KZ] Kenya [KE] Kiribati [KI] Korea, Democratic People\'s Republic Of [KP] Korea, Republic Of [KR] Kosovo [KV] Kuwait [KW] Kyrgyzstan [KG] Lao People\'s Democratic Republic [LA] Latvia [LV] Lebanon [LB] Lesotho [LS] Liberia [LR] Libyan Arab Jamahiriya [LY] Liechtenstein [LI] Lithuania [LT] Luxembourg [LU] Macau [MO] Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of [MK] Madagascar [MG] Malawi [MW] Malaysia [MY] Maldives [MV] Mali [ML] Malta [MT] Marshall Islands [MH] Martinique [MQ] Mauritania [MR] Mauritius [MU] Mayotte [YT] Mexico [MX] Micronesia, Federated States Of [FM] Moldova, Republic Of [MD] Monaco [MC] Mongolia [MN] Montenegro [ME] Montserrat [MS] Morocco [MA] Mozambique [MZ] Myanmar [MM] Namibia [NA] Nauru [NR] Nepal [NP] Netherlands [NL] Netherlands Antilles [AN] New Caledonia [NC] New Zealand [NZ] Nicaragua [NI] Niger [NE] Nigeria [NG] Niue [NU] Norfolk Island [NF] Northern Mariana Islands [MP] Norway [NO] Oman [OM] Pakistan [PK] Palau [PW] Palestinian Territory, Occupied [PS] Panama [PA] Papua New Guinea [PG] Paraguay [PY] Peru [PE] Philippines [PH] Pitcairn [PN] Poland [PL] Portugal [PT] Puerto Rico [PR] Qatar [QA] Reunion [RE] Romania [RO] Russian Federation [RU] Rwanda [RW] Saint Helena [SH] Saint Kitts And Nevis [KN] Saint Lucia [LC] Saint Pierre And Miquelon [PM] Saint Vincent And The Grenadines [VC] Samoa [WS] San Marino [SM] Sao Tome And Principe [ST] Saudi Arabia [SA] Senegal [SN] Serbia [RS] Seychelles [SC] Sierra Leone [SL] Singapore [SG] Slovakia [SK] Slovenia [SI] Solomon Islands [SB] Somalia [SO] South Africa [ZA] South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands [GS] Spain [ES] Sri Lanka [LK] Sudan [SD] Suriname [SR] Svalbard And Jan Mayen [SJ] Swaziland [SZ] Sweden [SE] Switzerland [CH] Syrian Arab Republic [SY] Taiwan, Province Of China [TW] Tajikistan [TJ] Tanzania, United Republic Of [TZ] Thailand [TH] Togo [TG] Tokelau [TK] Tonga [TO] Trinidad And Tobago [TT] Tunisia [TN] Turkey [TR] Turkmenistan [TM] Turks And Caicos Islands [TC] Tuvalu [TV] Uganda [UG] Ukraine [UA] United Arab Emirates [AE] United Kingdom [GB] United States Minor Outlying Islands [UM] Uruguay [UY] Uzbekistan [UZ] Vanuatu [VU] Venezuela [VE] Viet Nam [VN] Virgin Islands, British [VG] Virgin Islands, U.s. [VI] Wallis And Futuna [WF] Western Sahara [EH] Yemen [YE] Zambia [ZM] Zimbabwe [ZW] Other '; $subst = "$2|$1[$2]"; $result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str); echo "The result of the substitution is ".$result;

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 PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php