Regular Expressions 101

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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

/
/
gm

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 = "^([A-z]+)(?: *= *)(\\d+|[A-z]+)$"; final String string = "Expression validator\n" + "^((?:[A-z]+)|((-|\\+)?\\d+))( +(\\++|-+) +((?:-?\\d+)|(?:[A-z]+)))*$\n\n" + "Assignment validator\n" + "^([A-z]+)(?: *= *)(\\d+|[A-z]+)$\n\n" + "c= a\n" + "8\n" + "8 + 4\n" + "-2 + 4 - 5 + 6\n\n" + "9 +++ - 10 -- 8\n" + "9 --- + 10\n" + "9 --- -10\n" + "9 +++ -10 -- 8\n" + "3 --- 5\n" + "14 - 12\n" + "-3 2\n" + "name = 44\n" + "a = 5\n" + "capName = 6 + 4\n" + "capName = 6\n" + "n = 3\n" + "m=4\n" + "a = 5\n" + "b = a\n" + "v= 7\n" + "n =9\n" + "c= a\n" + "A variable can have a name consisting of more than one letter.\n\n" + "count = 10\n" + "To print the value of a variable you should just type its name.\n\n" + "N = 5\n" + "N\n" + "5\n" + "It should be possible to set a new value to an existing variable.\n\n" + "a = 1\n" + "a = 2\n" + "a = 3\n" + "a\n" + "3\n" + "If an identifier or value of a variable is invalid, the program must print a message like the one below.\n\n" + "a1 = 8\n" + "Invalid identifier\n" + "n = a2a\n" + "Invalid assignment\n" + "a = 7 = 8\n" + "Invalid assignment\n\n\n"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE); 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