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
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
Processing...

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

use strict; my $str = 'Value Val ABCDE ACCS ALLY ALWY AMBL APP ARC ARTL ARTY AV BA BEND BWLK BVD BR BRAE BRK BROW BYPA BYWY CSWY CTR CH CIR CCT CRCS CL CON CPS CNR CT CTYD COVE CR CRST CRSS CSAC CUTT DALE DIP DR DVWY EDGE ELB END ENT ESP EXP FAWY FOLW FTWY FORM FWY FRTG GAP GDNS GTE GLDE GLEN GRA GRN GR HTS HIRD HWY HILL INTG JNC KEY LANE LNWY LINE LINK LKT LOOP MALL MNDR MEWS MTWY NOOK OTLK PDE PWY PASS PSGE PATH PWAY PIAZ PLZA PKT PNT PORT PROM QDRT QYS RMBL REST RTT RDGE RISE RD RTY RTE ROW RUE SVWY SHUN SPUR SQ ST SBWY TARN TCE THFR TLWY TOP TOR TRK TRL TURN UPAS VALE VIAD VIEW VSTA WALK WKWY WHRF WYND '; my $regex = qr/^(?=[A-Z]{1,4}\b) # Notice the matches below that don't fully match if these are NOT in reverse order: (ACCS|ALLY|ALWY|AMBL|APP|ARC|ARTL|ARTY|AV|BA|BEND|BWLK|BVD|BR|BRAE|BRK|BROW|BYPA|BYWY|CSWY|CTR|CH|CIR|CCT|CRCS|CL|CON|CPS|CNR|CT|CTYD|COVE|CR|CRST|CRSS|CSAC|CUTT|DALE|DIP|DR|DVWY|EDGE|ELB|END|ENT|ESP|EXP|FAWY|FOLW|FTWY|FORM|FWY|FRTG|GAP|GDNS|GTE|GLDE|GLEN|GRA|GRN|GR|HTS|HIRD|HWY|HILL|INTG|JNC|KEY|LANE|LNWY|LINE|LINK|LKT|LOOP|MALL|MNDR|MEWS|MTWY|NOOK|OTLK|PDE|PWY|PASS|PSGE|PATH|PWAY|PIAZ|PLZA|PKT|PNT|PORT|PROM|QDRT|QYS|RMBL|REST|RTT|RDGE|RISE|RD|RTY|RTE|ROW|RUE|SVWY|SHUN|SPUR|SQ|ST|SBWY|TARN|TCE|THFR|TLWY|TOP|TOR|TRK|TRL|TURN|UPAS|VALE|VIAD|VIEW|VSTA|WALK|WKWY|WHRF|WYND)/mxp; if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) { print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n"; # print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n"; # print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n"; } # ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p' # Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}

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 Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html