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

$re = '/(?:\bis\b)?((?:(?!\bis\b)(?:What\s+is\b)?.?)+)/'; $str = 'is What is this and Who is this What is cool What isisisis is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is is is is this what is What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is What is this and this is cool What is this is is is'; preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0); // Print the entire match result var_dump($matches);

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