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

/
/
gm

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "^(?<forename>.+?)\\s(?<surname>\\w+)\\nBirth\\n(?:(?<birth_day>(\\d{1,2}|unknown))\\s(?<birth_month>\\w{3})\\s(?<birth_year>\\d{4})|\\bunknown\\b)\\n(?<birth_location>.+?\\n)?Death\\n(?:(?<death_day>(\\d{1,2}|unknown))\\s(?<death_month>\\w{3})\\s(?<death_year>\\d{4})(?:\\s*\\(aged\\s*(?<age>\\d+)\\))?|unknown)\\n(?<death_location>.+?)\\nBurial\\n(?<cemetery_name>.+?)\\n(?<cemetery_location>.+?)\\n(?:Show MapGPS-Latitude:\\s*(?<latitude>-?\\d+\\.\\d+),\\s*Longitude:\\s*(?<longitude>-?\\d+\\.\\d+))?\\n?(?:Plot\\n(?<plot>.+?)\\n?)?Memorial ID\\n(?<memorial_id>\\d+)"; final String string = "Frederick Clarke\n" + "Birth\n" + "6 Feb 1871\n" + "Death\n" + "7 Nov 1952 (aged 81)\n" + "Sheffield\n" + "Burial\n" + "Crookes Cemetery\n" + "Sheffield, Metropolitan Borough of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England\n" + "Show MapGPS-Latitude: 53.384024, Longitude: -1.515043\n" + "Plot\n" + "MM 7848\n" + "Memorial ID\n" + "237065233"; 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