Regular Expressions 101

Save & Share

Flavor

  • PCRE2 (PHP >=7.3)
  • PCRE (PHP <7.3)
  • ECMAScript (JavaScript)
  • Python
  • Golang
  • Java 8
  • .NET 7.0 (C#)
  • Rust
  • Regex Flavor Guide

Function

  • Match
  • Substitution
  • List
  • Unit Tests

Tools

Sponsors
There are currently no sponsors. Become a sponsor today!
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

/
/
g

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 = "^([a-zA-Z]){4}(AF|AX|AL|DZ|AS|AD|AO|AI|AQ|AG|AR|AM|AW|AU|AZ|BS|BH|BD|BB|BY|BE|BZ|BJ|BM|BT|BO|BA|BW|BV|BR|IO|BN|BG|BF|BI|KH|CM|CA|CV|KY|CF|TD|CL|CN|CX|CC|CO|KM|CG|CD|CK|CR|CI|HR|CU|CY|CZ|DK|DJ|DM|DO|EC|EG|SV|GQ|ER|EE|ET|FK|FO|FJ|FI|FR|GF|PF|TF|GA|GM|GE|DE|GH|GI|GR|GL|GD|GP|GU|GT|GG|GN|GW|GY|HT|HM|VA|HN|HK|HU|IS|IN|ID|IR|IQ|IE|IM|IL|IT|JM|JP|JE|JO|KZ|KE|KI|KP|KR|KW|KG|LA|LV|LB|LS|LR|LY|LI|LT|LU|MO|MK|MG|MW|MY|MV|ML|MT|MH|MQ|MR|MU|YT|MX|FM|MD|MC|MC|MN|ME|MS|MA|MZ|MM|MA|NR|NP|NL|AN|NC|NZ|NI|NE|NG|NU|NF|MP|NO|OM|PK|PW|PS|PA|PG|PY|PE|PH|PN|PL|PT|PR|QA|RE|RO|RU|RW|SH|KN|LC|PM|VC|WS|SM|ST|SA|SN|RS|SC|SL|SG|SK|SI|SB|SO|ZA|GS|ES|LK|SD|SR|SJ|SZ|SE|CH|SY|TW|TJ|TZ|TH|TL|TG|TK|TO|TT|TN|TR|TM|TC|TV|UG|UA|AE|GB|US|UM|UY|UZ|VU|VE|VN|VG|VI|WF|EH|YE|ZM|ZW)([0-9a-zA-Z]){2}([0-9a-zA-Z]{3})$"; final String string = ""; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex); 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