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

/
/

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 = "<td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"\\/title\\/tt([0-9]+)\\/\\?ref_=[a-zA-Z0-9_]+\" >((?:(?!<\\/a>).)*?)<\\/a>"; final String string = "\n" + "<tr class=\"findResult odd\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg3OTQ2NzAzN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDUyNjY3NTE@._V1_UX32_CR0,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult even\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730026/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjIzOTE2MjIwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzQ1ODU0NjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730026/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2\" >eps1.7_wh1ter0se.m4v</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult odd\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730002/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNDMyODE0MDcyOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDA4MzgxNjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730002/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3\" >eps1.2_d3bug.mkv</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult even\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4652838/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTY4MDgwMzEwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzgzMzk5NTE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4652838/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4\" >eps1.0_hellofriend.mov</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult odd\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4799588/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNjAyNzM1NzkzOV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTI3MDk1NjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4799588/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5\" >eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult even\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730012/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzQ5NTg5ODQyMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjcxNzMzNjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730012/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6\" >eps1.4_3xpl0its.wmv</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_6a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult odd\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4659980/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjA1MjYxNzczM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjU4MzgxNjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4659980/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7\" >eps1.3_da3m0ns.mp4</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult even\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4686038/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTg0NTkwMTc1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzY3MzgxNjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4686038/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8\" >eps1.1_ones-and-zer0es.mpeg</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult odd\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730014/?ref_=fn_al_tt_9\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTc2NDc0ODc3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwODYxNzMzNjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4730014/?ref_=fn_al_tt_9\" >eps1.5_br4ve-trave1er.asf</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_9a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr><tr class=\"findResult even\"> <td class=\"primary_photo\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4652854/?ref_=fn_al_tt_10\" ><img src=\"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMzUyMzIxMDY2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTU3MDk1NjE@._V1_UY44_CR17,0,32,44_AL_.jpg\" /></a> </td> <td class=\"result_text\"> <a href=\"/title/tt4652854/?ref_=fn_al_tt_10\" >eps1.9_zer0-day.avi</a> (2015) (TV Episode) <br/><small>- <a href=\"/title/tt4158110/?ref_=fn_al_tt_10a\" >Mr. Robot</a> (2015) (TV Series) </small> </td> </tr></table>\n" + "<div class=\"findMoreMatches\">"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex); final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string); if (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