regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

Comment: start DEFINE block

Comment: pre-define quant subroutine

Group quant(?<quant>many|some|five)

1st Alternativemany

manythe literal text many (case sensitive)

2nd Alternativesome

somethe literal text some (case sensitive)

3rd Alternativefive

fivethe literal text five (case sensitive)

Comment: pre-define adj subroutine

Group adj(?<adj>blue|large|interesting)

1st Alternativeblue

bluethe literal text blue (case sensitive)

2nd Alternativelarge

largethe literal text large (case sensitive)

3rd Alternativeinteresting

interestingthe literal text interesting (case sensitive)

Comment: pre-define object subroutine

Group object(?<object>cars|elephants|problems)

1st Alternativecars

carsthe literal text cars (case sensitive)

2nd Alternativeelephants

elephantsthe literal text elephants (case sensitive)

3rd Alternativeproblems

problemsthe literal text problems (case sensitive)

Comment: pre-define noun_phrase subroutine

Group noun_phrase(?<noun_phrase>(?&quant)\ (?&adj)\ (?&object))

(?&quant)calls group quant as a subroutine

\ the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

(?&adj)calls group adj as a subroutine

\ the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

(?&object)calls group object as a subroutine

Comment: pre-define verb subroutine

Group verb(?<verb>borrow|solve|ressemble)

1st Alternativeborrow

borrowthe literal text borrow (case sensitive)

2nd Alternativesolve

solvethe literal text solve (case sensitive)

3rd Alternativeressemble

ressemblethe literal text ressemble (case sensitive)

Comment: end DEFINE block

Comment:#### The regex matching starts here #####

(?&noun_phrase)calls group noun_phrase as a subroutine

\ the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

(?&verb)calls group verb as a subroutine

\ the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

(?&noun_phrase)calls group noun_phrase as a subroutine

Global pattern flags

x modifier: extended. Ignores unescaped whitespace and comments outside character classes

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

Search reference

Regular Expression

(?(DEFINE)                            # start DEFINE block
  # pre-define quant subroutine 
  (?<quant>many|some|five)

  # pre-define adj subroutine
  (?<adj>blue|large|interesting)                   

  # pre-define object subroutine
  (?<object>cars|elephants|problems)                

  # pre-define noun_phrase subroutine
  (?<noun_phrase>(?&quant)\ (?&adj)\ (?&object))   

  # pre-define verb subroutine
  (?<verb>borrow|solve|ressemble)
)                                     # end DEFINE block

##### The regex matching starts here #####
(?&noun_phrase)\ (?&verb)\ (?&noun_phrase)

Test String
New

five blue elephants solve many interesting problems
many large problems ressemble some interesting cars

Regular Expression

Test StringNew

Test String
New