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

/
/
gm

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

use strict; my $str = 'Task: Return only the residents of Spencerport, NY who have phone numbers listed. Include the name, address and phone number of the individual(s). ---------------------------------------------------------------- Public Records and Phone Records Listings DEFRANK, EDMUND 823 WASHINGTON ST, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-9703. Phone Number 585-352-9218 ODELL, E BRIGHTON, NY 12970. Phone Number 585-327-3686 DEFRANCO, FRANK 6 REX LN, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-9700 DR. OBRECT, MICHAEL 200 RED CREEK DR, HENRIETTA, NY 14467 Phone Number +1 (585) 334-0352 FRANCIS, PAUL 37 TROTTER DR, HENRIETTA, NY 14467-9769. Phone Number 585-334-7733 CARLSON, BRITA 1 BURKE LN #D, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-1546. Phone Number +1 (585) 3529383 EDWARDS, SUSAN 4621 W RIDGE RD, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-1552. Phone Number CARLSON, JEFF 21 NEVINS RD, HENRIETTA, NY 14467-9307. Phone Number 585-359-9545 FRANCIS, RICHARD 13 LINDA LN, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-1613. Phone Number DEFREZE, GREGORY 10 BIG RIDGE RD, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-1219. Phone Number 5853520978 ENGLEHARDT, HERBERT 75 TOTTENHAM RD, BRIGHTON, NY 14610-2244. Phone Number 585-482-2955 CARTER, GARY 204 PINE HILL RD, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-1010. Phone Number (585)352-8826 DEGEN, MARK 27 COBRA DR, HENRIETTA, NY 14467-9512. Phone Number 585-321-3524 DEGENNARO, VICTOR 537 WASHINGTON ST, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-9539. Phone Number +1 (585) 352-3824 FRANCIS, THOMAS 4812 LYELL RD, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-2014. Phone Number 585-352-4758 CARTER, LINDA 50 JORDACHE LN, SPENCERPORT, NY 14559-2059. Phone Number 585-352-4913'; my $regex = qr/\+?[\d]?\s*\(?\d{3}\)?[\s\.-]?\d{3}[\s\.-]?\d{4}/mp; if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) { print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n"; # print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n"; # print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n"; } # ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p' # Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}

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 Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html