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

~
~
gmx

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 = "^ \\h*+ \n" + "(?<VOTERNO> [0-9]+ ) \\h+\n" + "(?<SURNAME> \\S+ (?>\\h\\S+)*? ) \\h{2,}\n" + "(?<OTHERNAMES> \\S+ (?>\\h\\S+)*? ) \\h{2,}\n" + "(?<DOB> [0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4} ) \\h+\n" + "(?<SEX> [FM] ) \\h+\n" + "(?<APPID_RECNO> [0-9A-Z/]+ ) \\h+\n" + "(?<VILLAGE> \\S+ (?>\\h\\S+)* ) \n" + "\\h* $"; final String string = " NATIONAL VOTERS' REGISTER\n" + " ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACT, CAP(140)\n\n\n\n\n" + "NVR TEXT REGISTER FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS 2015/2016\n\n\n\n" + " DISTRICT : 12 JOI\n" + " CONSTITUENCY : 035 GRGR RT\n" + " SUB-COUNTY : 11 GHT\n" + " PARISH : 01 ATZ\n" + " POLLING STATION : 01 OT\n\n\n\n\n" + " TOTAL: 398\n\n" + " NO OF PAGES : 9\n\n\n\n\n" + " THE REPUBLIC\n" + " NATIONAL VOTERS' REGISTER\n" + " ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACT, CAP(140)\n" + " NVR TEXT REGISTER FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS 2015/2016\n" + " DISTRICT : 12 JOI PARISH : 01 ATZ\n" + " CONSTITUENCY : 035 GRGR RT POLLING STATION : 01 OT\n" + " SUB-COUNTY : 11 GHT\n" + "VOTER NO SURNAME OTHERNAMES DOB SEX APPID/RECEIPT NO VILLAGE\n" + " 57534676 AAA BBB 01-01-1965 M 0323830000V0C/CM5607 ABC\n\n" + " 53276273 CCC DDD 28-07-1981 M 1074620203FUX/CM9007 TTR RR\n" + " TOTAL: 398 PAGE : 1 OF 9\n\n" + " THE REPUBLIC\n" + " NATIONAL VOTERS' REGISTER\n" + " ELECTORAL COMMISSION ACT, CAP(140)\n" + " NVR TEXT REGISTER FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS 2015/2016\n" + " DISTRICT : 12 JOI PARISH : 01 ATZ\n" + " CONSTITUENCY : 035 GRGR RT POLLING STATION : 01 OT\n" + " SUB-COUNTY : 11 GHT\n" + "VOTER NO SURNAME OTHERNAMES DOB SEX APPID/RECEIPT NO VILLAGE\n" + " 53390750 EEE FFF 18-04-1978 F 13238200006Z6/CF8507 TTR\n" + " 60977834 GGG HHH 25-05-1979 F 1176520002RK4/CF1907 BREH"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE | Pattern.COMMENTS); 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