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

r"
"
mgx

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "^\n" + " (?P<show>[a-zA-Z1-9\\.\\-]+[^\\.])\n" + " \\.[Ss]?(?P<season>\\d{1,2})[EeXx](?P<episode>\\d{1,2})\n" + " (\\.(?P<title>[a-zA-Z1-9\\.]+[^\\.]))?\n" + " \\.(?P<resolution>\\d{3,4}p)\n" + " \\.(?P<quality>[a-zA-Z\\-]{1,6})\n" + " \\.(?P<codec>[a-zA-Z0-9\\.]+\\d)\n" + " ([\\.\\-](?P<team>.+))?\n" + "$"; final String string = "Person.of.Interest.S05E13.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION\n" + "The.Big.Bang.Theory.S09E21.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION[ettv]\n" + "Homeland.S05E11.Our.Man.in.Damascus.720p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H264-NTb[rarbg]\n" + "limitless.s01e01.pilot.720p.webrip.hevc.x265.rmteam\n" + "vikings.s04e01.a.good.treason.720p.web.dl.hevc.x265.rmteam\n" + "Brooklyn.Nine-Nine.S03E23.720p.WEBRip.x264\n"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE | Pattern.COMMENTS); 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