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
No Match

/
/
g

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 = "(Trotz­dem\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?gibt\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?es\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Unter­su­chun­gen,\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?die\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?nahe­le­gen,\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?dass\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?bis\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?zu\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?20%\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?der\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Stu­die­ren­den\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?in\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Deutsch­land\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?wäh­rend\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?der\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Prü­fungs­vor­be­rei­tung\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Rita­lin\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?ein­schmeis­sen\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?\\[2\\],\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Repor­ta­gen,\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?dass\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?bri­ti­sche\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Stu­die­rende\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Moda­fi­nil\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?bes­tens\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?ken­nen\\[3\\]\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?und\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Stu­die­rende\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?welt­weit\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?auch\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?nach\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?der\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Silk\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Road — einem\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?mitt­ler­weile\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?ein­ge­stell­ten\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Schwarz­markt\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?im\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Deep\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?Web – mit\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?ille­ga­len\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?„Nootro­pics“\\s*?(?:<\\/?[^>]*?>)?\\s*?experimentieren\\.)"; final String string = "<p>Die <span class=\"caps\">GDS</span> zeich­net also das Bild einer Gesell­schaft, in der Dro­gen pri­mär Rausch, Genuss und Spass sind. Tabak ist zwar das bekann­teste – und unge­sün­deste – Mit­tel gegen Stress, aber sonst sind die Leis­tungs­stei­ge­rer in der Liste weit abge­schla­gen. Trotz­dem gibt es Unter­su­chun­gen, die nahe­le­gen, dass bis zu 20% der Stu­die­ren­den in Deutsch­land wäh­rend der Prü­fungs­vor­be­rei­tung Rita­lin ein­schmeis­sen <a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]</a>, Repor­ta­gen, dass bri­ti­sche Stu­die­rende Moda­fi­nil bes­tens ken­nen<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]</a> und Stu­die­rende welt­weit auch nach der <a href=\"https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road\" target=\"_blank\">Silk Road</a> — einem mitt­ler­weile ein­ge­stell­ten Schwarz­markt im Deep Web – mit ille­ga­len „Nootro­pics“ experimentieren.</p>"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex); 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