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 single character of: a, b, c or d
    [[ab][cd]]
  • 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]
  • Character class intersection
    [\w&&[^\d]]
  • 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"
"
gms

Test String

Code Generator

Generated Code

# coding=utf8 # the above tag defines encoding for this document and is for Python 2.x compatibility import re regex = r"^---$((.)*)^---$" test_str = ("---\n" "Created: 20.07.2023\n" "Tags: #kleiderschrank, #golf\n" "---\n\n" "# Kleiderschrank | Golf\n\n" "## Polos kurz schwarz (#polo)\n" "2018-11 | 2 x Under Armour Herren Performance Poloshirt, Schwarz, XL\n" "0000-00 | Nike Polos Standard FIT XL black\n" "0000-00 | AIRBUS Bremen XL black\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Poloshirt kurz grün\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Poloshirt kurz türkis\n" "2016-07 | 4 x Decathlon Polos\n" "0000-00 | Adidas Polo XL hellgrau\n" "0000-00 | Adidas Polo L signalrot\n" "0000-00 | Adidas Polo L signalrot\n\n" "## Polos lang\n" "2019-04 | Golfino Poloshirt lang\n\n" "## Pullover (#pullover)\n" "0000-00 | Decathlon Fleece XL hellgrau\n" "0000-00 | Decathlon Fleece XL blau\n\n" "## Windshields (#windshields)\n\n" "2019-04 | Nike Herren-Golfjacke mit Synthetikfüllung XL Schwarz\n" "2019-04 | Golfino Thermo Jacke gesteppt schwarz 56\n" "2017-06 | Golfino Windshield Fleece Jacke black\n" "0000-00 | Golfino Shell dunkelbau\n" "2017-06 | Golfino ThermoShirt 1/2 Zip blau 54\n" "0000-00 | Golfino Jacke schwarz\n\n" "## Rain Shirts (#rainshirts)\n\n" "0000-00 | FootJoy Hydrolite Rainshirt XL black\n" "2015-09 | Under Armour Herren Golf Pullover Crestable Elements 1/2 Zip, Black, XL\n\n" "## Westen (#westen)\n\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Mikrofaser Weste Navy\n" "2019-04 | Golfino Weste gesteppt schwarz 56\n\n" "## Zipper lang (#zipper)\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Troyer Zip schwarz lang\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Troyer Zip blau lang\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Troyer Zip grün lang\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Troyer Zip rot lang\n" "2018-05 | Golfino Troyer Zip rot lang\n\n" "## Hosen (#hosen)\n" "0000-00 | Golfino 54 schwarz\n" "0000-00 | Alberto chino 54 schwarz\n" "0000-00 | Adidas blau 32/34\n\n" "## Schuhe\n" "2018-08 | FootJoy Golfschuhe Contour Casual 45 braun\n" "2018-08 | FootJoy Golfschuhe Contour Fit 45 schwarz\n" "2015-09 | Nike\n\n") matches = re.finditer(regex, test_str, re.MULTILINE | re.DOTALL) for matchNum, match in enumerate(matches, start=1): print ("Match {matchNum} was found at {start}-{end}: {match}".format(matchNum = matchNum, start = match.start(), end = match.end(), match = match.group())) for groupNum in range(0, len(match.groups())): groupNum = groupNum + 1 print ("Group {groupNum} found at {start}-{end}: {group}".format(groupNum = groupNum, start = match.start(groupNum), end = match.end(groupNum), group = match.group(groupNum))) # Note: for Python 2.7 compatibility, use ur"" to prefix the regex and u"" to prefix the test string and substitution.

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 Python, please visit: https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html