Regular Expressions 101

Explanation

Pro

^start of string

Non-Capturing Group(?:\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b(?:\W+\w+){20}|(?!\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b)[\s\S])*?

*?repeats the group contents below any number of times:

1st Alternative\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b(?:\W+\w+){20}

\W*any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated any number of times

Non-Capturing Group(?:\w+\W+){0,20}

{0,20}repeats the group contents below between 0 and 20 times:

\w+a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

\W+any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

\ba Unicode word boundary

Non-Capturing Group(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)

1st AlternativeBADWORD1

BADWORD1the literal text BADWORD1 (case insensitive)

2nd AlternativeBAD2

BAD2the literal text BAD2 (case insensitive)

\ba Unicode word boundary

Non-Capturing Group(?:\W+\w+){20}

{20}repeats the group contents below exactly 20 times:

\W+any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

\w+a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

2nd Alternative(?!\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b)[\s\S]

Negative Lookahead(?!\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b)

\W*any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated any number of times

Non-Capturing Group(?:\w+\W+){0,20}

{0,20}repeats the group contents below between 0 and 20 times:

\w+a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

\W+any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

\ba Unicode word boundary

Non-Capturing Group(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)

1st AlternativeBADWORD1

BADWORD1the literal text BADWORD1 (case insensitive)

2nd AlternativeBAD2

BAD2the literal text BAD2 (case insensitive)

\ba Unicode word boundary

Character Class[\s\S]

\sa Unicode whitespace character

\Sany character that is not Unicode whitespace

Non-Capturing Group(?:\b(PRIMARY1|P2|P3)\b|\b(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\b|\b(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\b)

1st Alternative\b(PRIMARY1|P2|P3)\b

\ba Unicode word boundary

Group 1(PRIMARY1|P2|P3)

1st AlternativePRIMARY1

PRIMARY1the literal text PRIMARY1 (case insensitive)

2nd AlternativeP2

P2the literal text P2 (case insensitive)

3rd AlternativeP3

P3the literal text P3 (case insensitive)

\ba Unicode word boundary

2nd Alternative\b(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\b

\ba Unicode word boundary

Group 2(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)

1st AlternativeSECONDARY1

SECONDARY1the literal text SECONDARY1 (case insensitive)

2nd AlternativeS2

S2the literal text S2 (case insensitive)

3rd AlternativeS3

S3the literal text S3 (case insensitive)

\W+any character that is not a Unicode word character, repeated at least once

Non-Capturing Group(?:\w+\W+){0,20}

Group 3(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)

\ba Unicode word boundary

3rd Alternative\b(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\b

Global pattern flags

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

i modifier: insensitive. Matches without distinguishing uppercase and lowercase letters

Match Information

Detailed match information will be displayed here automatically.

Quick Reference

25 tokens

Regular Expression

^(?:\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b(?:\W+\w+){20}|(?!\W*(?:\w+\W+){0,20}\b(?:BADWORD1|BAD2)\b)[\s\S])*?(?:\b(PRIMARY1|P2|P3)\b|\b(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\b|\b(TERTIARY1|T2|T3)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,20}(SECONDARY1|S2|S3)\b)

New

word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word P2 word word word BADWORD1 word word P2 word word word word word word word PRIMARY1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word BADWORD1 word word word word word word word word word word SECONDARY1 word word word word word word word word TERTIARY1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word SECONDARY1 word word word word word word word word TERTIARY1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word word BADWORD1 word word word word word word word word word word word <MORE THAN 20 WORDS AWAY FROM BAD> word word word TERTIARY1 word word word word