Regular Expressions 101

Explanation

Pro

^start of line

Negative Lookahead(?![ ])

Character Class[ ]

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

Negative Lookahead(?!.*[ ]{1})

.*any character (except for line terminators), repeated any number of times

Character Class[ ]{1}

{1}matches one character from the set below:

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

Non-Capturing Group(?:([A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)([Mc|O']*[A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)*(?!.*[ ])$)+

+repeats the group contents below at least once:

Group 1([A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)

Character Class[A-Z]

A-Zone character from A (65₁₀) to Z (90₁₀) (case sensitive)

Character Class[a-z]+

+matches at least one character from the set below:

a-zone character from a (97₁₀) to z (122₁₀) (case sensitive)

\s*?any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Group 2([Mc|O']*[A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)*

*repeats the group contents below any number of times:

Character Class[Mc|O']*

*matches any number of characters from the set below:

Mthe literal M (77₁₀ / 115₈ / 4D₁₆) (case sensitive)

cthe literal c (99₁₀ / 143₈ / 63₁₆) (case sensitive)

|the literal | (124₁₀ / 174₈ / 7C₁₆)

Othe literal O (79₁₀ / 117₈ / 4F₁₆) (case sensitive)

'the literal ' (39₁₀ / 47₈ / 27₁₆)

Character Class[A-Z]

A-Zone character from A (65₁₀) to Z (90₁₀) (case sensitive)

Character Class[a-z]+

+matches at least one character from the set below:

a-zone character from a (97₁₀) to z (122₁₀) (case sensitive)

\s*?any whitespace character, repeated any number of times

Negative Lookahead(?!.*[ ])

.*any character (except for line terminators), repeated any number of times

Character Class[ ]

the literal (32₁₀ / 40₈ / 20₁₆)

$end of line

Global pattern flags

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

m modifier: multiline. Causes ^ and $ to match the start and end of each line, not only the start and end of the string

Match Information

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

Quick Reference

25 tokens

Regular Expression

^(?![ ])(?!.*[ ]{1})(?:([A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)([Mc|O']*[A-Z][a-z]+\s*?)*(?!.*[ ])$)+$

New

BellGardens
Ronald McDonald
Brian O'Conner
Bell Gardens
BellGardens 
 BellGardens
RonaldMcDonald
BrianO'Conner

Extraction

BellGardens
Ronald McDonald
Brian O'Conner
Bell Gardens
BellGardens 
 BellGardens
RonaldMcDonald
BrianO'Conner