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

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "\\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+)\\|\\d+-\\d+\\|\\w+\\|?\\w+?\\}\\)?"; final String string = "{@spell wall of force} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "({@damage 2d8} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\d+d\\d+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@condition unconscious} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@creature Bestial Spirit|TCE} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s\\w+)\\|\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@scaledamage 1d8|3,5,7,9|1d8} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+)\\|.......\\|\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@dice 1d10 × 1d10} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+\\s×\\s\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@scaledamage 2d8|1-9|1d8} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+)\\|\\d+-\\d+\\|\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@dice 1d4 + 1} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+\\s\\+\\s\\d+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@dice 1d4 - 1} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s(\\w+\\s-\\s\\d+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@dice 1d20 - 3|4} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+-\\s+\\w+)\\|\\d+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@dice 1d20 + 4|18} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s\\+\\s\\d+)\\|\\d+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@hit +6} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\+\\d+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@creature animated object (tiny)|phb|Tiny} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s\\w+\\s\\(\\w+\\))\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@spell magic missile} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@chance 25|25 percent} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+\\d+\\|(\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter beast of challenge rating 2 or lower|bestiary|challenge rating=[&0;&2]|type=beast|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\d+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s+\\w+=\\[&\\d+;&\\d+\\]\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter beasts of challenge rating 1/2 or lower|bestiary|challenge rating=[&0;&1/2]|type=beast|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\d+\\/\\d+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s\\w+=\\[&\\d+;&\\d+\\/\\d+\\]\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter fey creatures of challenge rating 1/4 or lower|bestiary|challenge rating=[&0;&1/4]|type=fey|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\d+\\/\\d+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s+\\w+=\\[&\\d+;&\\d+\\/\\d+\\]\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter fey creatures of challenge rating 1 or lower|bestiary|challenge rating=[&0;&1]|type=fey|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\d+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s+\\w+=\\[&\\d+;&\\d+\\]\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@item arrow|phb|arrows} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@item crossbow bolt|phb|crossbow bolts} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s+\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@creature ghoul||ghouls} <-\\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+\\w+\\|\\|(\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter fey|bestiary|type=fey|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter any beast|bestiary|type=beast|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@race dwarf (hill)||Dwarf, hill} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\(\\w+\\)\\|\\|(\\w+,\\s+\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@race Half-elf} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+-?\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter divination spells|spells|school=D} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+=\\w+\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@scaledamage 4d8;2d8|5-9|1d8} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+\\w+;\\w+\\|\\d+-\\d+\\|(\\w+)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@creature saber-toothed tiger} <- \\(?\\{@\\w+\\s+(\\w+?-?\\w+?\\s+?\\w+?)\\}\\)?\n\n" + "{@filter challenge rating 6 or lower|bestiary|challenge rating=[&0;&6]|tag=devil|miscellaneous=!swarm} <- \\(?\\{@filter (\\w+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\d+\\s+\\w+\\s+\\w+)\\|\\w+\\|\\w+\\s+\\w+=\\[&\\d+;&\\d+\\]\\|\\w+=\\w+\\|\\w+=!\\w+\\}\\)?"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE); final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string); while (matcher.find()) { System.out.println("Full match: " + matcher.group(0)); for (int i = 1; i <= matcher.groupCount(); i++) { System.out.println("Group " + i + ": " + matcher.group(i)); } } } }

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 Java, please visit: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html