Regular Expressions 101

Save & Manage Regex

  • Current Version: 1
  • Save & Share
  • Community Library

Flavor

  • PCRE2 (PHP)
  • ECMAScript (JavaScript)
  • Python
  • Golang
  • Java
  • .NET 7.0 (C#)
  • Rust
  • PCRE (Legacy)
  • Regex Flavor Guide

Function

  • Match
  • Substitution
  • List
  • Unit Tests
Sponsors
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
Processing...

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

import re regex = re.compile(r"<td class=\"lineColumn\">(.*)<\/td>(.*)<td class=\"stationColumn\">(.*)<span(.*)<td class=\"inMinColumn\">(.*)<\/td>", flags=re.DOTALL) test_str = ("\n\n\n" "<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN\" \"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd\">\n" "<html>\n" "<head>\n" " \n" " <meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1\">\n" " <meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=340px\">\n" " <title>MVG-Live: Westkreuz Bf.</title>\n" " <link type=\"text/css\" rel='stylesheet' href='css/size30/mvg/mvglive-mobile.css' media='all'>\n" "</head>\n" "<body>\n" " <div class=\"departureTable header logo\">\n" " <div class=\"logoLeft\">\n" " <img class=\"logoImgLeft\" src=\"images/size30/grafik/mvg/mobile-logo-left.jpg\" alt=\"MVG live\">\n" " </div>\n" " <div class=\"logoRight\">\n" " <img class=\"logoImgRight\" src=\"images/size30/grafik/mvg/mobile-logo-right.jpg\" alt=\"MVG live\">\n" " </div>\n" " </div>\n" " \n" " \n\n" " \n" " <table class=\"departureTable departureView\">\n" " <tr>\n" " <td colspan=\"2\" class=\"headerStationColumn\">Westkreuz Bf.</td>\n" " <td colspan=\"2\" class=\"serverTimeColumn\">21:33</td>\n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " \n" " \n" " <tr>\n" " <td colspan=\"4\" class=\"sBahnHeader\">S-Bahn M&uuml;nchen (Daten DB Regio AG)</td>\n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Ebersberg(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">1</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Herrsching\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">5</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " München Flughafen Terminal\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">6</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Starnberg\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">11</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Ebersberg(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">21</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Weßling(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">25</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " München Flughafen Terminal\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">26</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Tutzing\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">31</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Grafing Bahnhof\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">41</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Herrsching\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">45</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " München Flughafen Terminal\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">46</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Tutzing\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">51</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Ebersberg(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">61</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Weßling(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">65</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " München Flughafen Terminal\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">66</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Tutzing\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">71</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Ebersberg(Oberbay)\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">81</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Herrsching\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">85</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowOdd\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S8</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " München Flughafen Terminal\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">86</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " <tr class=\"rowEven\">\n" " <td class=\"lineColumn\">S6</td> \n" " <td class=\"stationColumn\">\n" " Tutzing\n" " <span class=\"spacer\">&nbsp;</span>\n" " </td> \n" " <td class=\"inMinColumn\">91</td>\n" " \n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " \n" " <tr> \n" " <td colspan=\"4\" class=\"reloadLink\"> \n" " <a href=\"/ims/dfiStaticAnzeige.svc?haltestelle=Westkreuz Bf.&ubahn=&bus=&tram=&sbahn=checked\">\n" " Fahrten aktualisieren \n" " </a>\n" " </td>\n" " </tr>\n" " \n" " </table>\n" " <table class=\"departureTable footerTable\">\n" " <tr>\n" " <td class=\"footer\">\n" " <a href=\"http://www.mvg-mobil.de/impressum.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Impressum</a> \n" " </td>\n" " </tr>\n" " </table> \n" "</body>\n" "</html>") matches = regex.finditer(test_str) for match_num, match in enumerate(matches, start=1): print(f"Match {match_num} was found at {match.start()}-{match.end()}: {match.group()}") for group_num, group in enumerate(match.groups(), start=1): print(f"Group {group_num} found at {match.start(group_num)}-{match.end(group_num)}: {group}")

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 Python, please visit: https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html