regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

Pro

Comment: Define the opening and closing elements before the recursion occurs

Definition Group(?(DEFINE) (?<open_curly>\{) (?<close_curly>\}) (?<open_square>\[) (?<close_square>\]) (?P<open_pascal>(?i:\bbegin\b)) (?P<close_pascal>(?i:\bend\b)) (?P<open_lua>--\[) (?P<close_lua>--\]) (?<open>\g'open_curly'|\g'open_square'|\g'open_pascal'|\g'open_lua') (?<close>\g'close_curly'|\g'close_square'|\g'close_pascal'|\g'close_lua') )

Group open_curly(?<open_curly>\{)

\{the literal { (123₁₀ / 173₈ / 7B₁₆)

Group close_curly(?<close_curly>\})

\}the literal } (125₁₀ / 175₈ / 7D₁₆)

Group open_square(?<open_square>\[)

\[the literal [ (91₁₀ / 133₈ / 5B₁₆)

Group close_square(?<close_square>\])

\]the literal ] (93₁₀ / 135₈ / 5D₁₆)

Group open_pascal(?P<open_pascal>(?i:\bbegin\b))

Group with flags gxi(?i:\bbegin\b)

i modifier: insensitive. Matches without distinguishing uppercase and lowercase letters

\ban ASCII word boundary

beginthe literal text begin (case insensitive)

\ban ASCII word boundary

Group close_pascal(?P<close_pascal>(?i:\bend\b))

Group with flags gxi(?i:\bend\b)

i modifier: insensitive. Matches without distinguishing uppercase and lowercase letters

\ban ASCII word boundary

endthe literal text end (case insensitive)

\ban ASCII word boundary

Group open_lua(?P<open_lua>--\[)

--the literal text --

\[the literal [ (91₁₀ / 133₈ / 5B₁₆)

Group close_lua(?P<close_lua>--\])

--the literal text --

\]the literal ] (93₁₀ / 135₈ / 5D₁₆)

Group open(?<open>\g'open_curly'|\g'open_square'|\g'open_pascal'|\g'open_lua')

1st Alternative\g'open_curly'

\g'open_curly'calls group open_curly as a subroutine

2nd Alternative\g'open_square'

\g'open_square'calls group open_square as a subroutine

3rd Alternative\g'open_pascal'

\g'open_pascal'calls group open_pascal as a subroutine

4th Alternative\g'open_lua'

\g'open_lua'calls group open_lua as a subroutine

Group close(?<close>\g'close_curly'|\g'close_square'|\g'close_pascal'|\g'close_lua')

1st Alternative\g'close_curly'

\g'close_curly'calls group close_curly as a subroutine

2nd Alternative\g'close_square'

\g'close_square'calls group close_square as a subroutine

3rd Alternative\g'close_pascal'

\g'close_pascal'calls group close_pascal as a subroutine

4th Alternative\g'close_lua'

\g'close_lua'calls group close_lua as a subroutine

Comment: Match the opening element

Group 11(\g'open' (?> # For recursion, don't match either the opening # or closing element (?!\g'open'|\g'close')(.) | # Recurse this captured pattern (?-1) )* # Match the closing element \g'close')

\g'open'calls group open as a subroutine

Atomic Group(?> # For recursion, don't match either the opening # or closing element (?!\g'open'|\g'close')(.) | # Recurse this captured pattern (?-1) )*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative # For recursion, don't match either the opening # or closing element (?!\g'open'|\g'close')(.)

Comment: For recursion, don't match either the opening

Comment: or closing element

Negative Lookahead(?!\g'open'|\g'close')

1st Alternative\g'open'

2nd Alternative\g'close'

Group 12(.)

2nd Alternative # Recurse this captured pattern (?-1)

Comment: Match the closing element

\g'close'calls group close as a subroutine

Global pattern flags

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

x modifier: extended. Ignores unescaped whitespace and comments outside character classes

25 tokens

Regular Expression

# Define the opening and closing elements before the recursion occurs
(?(DEFINE)
  (?<open_curly>\{)
  (?<close_curly>\})
  (?<open_square>\[)
  (?<close_square>\])
  (?P<open_pascal>(?i:\bbegin\b))
  (?P<close_pascal>(?i:\bend\b))
  (?P<open_lua>--\[)
  (?P<close_lua>--\])
  (?<open>\g'open_curly'|\g'open_square'|\g'open_pascal'|\g'open_lua')
  (?<close>\g'close_curly'|\g'close_square'|\g'close_pascal'|\g'close_lua')
)

# Match the opening element
(\g'open'
  (?>
    # For recursion, don't match either the opening
    # or closing element
    (?!\g'open'|\g'close')(.)
  |
    # Recurse this captured pattern
    (?-1)
  )*

# Match the closing element
\g'close')

Unit Tests

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