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
No Match

/
/
g

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; public class Example { public static void main(String[] args) { final String regex = "(\\S| )+\\n(\\S| )+\\n(\\S| )+\\n((\\S| )+|)NSW \\d{4}"; final String string = "/////// 4 lines & 3rd line is suburb only\n" + "SCIENTIFIC MOTOR BODYWORKS LP\n" + "7-9 PERRY STREET\n" + "MATRAVILLE\n" + "NSW 2036\n" + "///////\n" + "au\n" + "Mascot Auto Repairs\"cod**\n" + "155 Coward Street\n" + "Mascot NSW 2020\n" + "////////////////////////\n" + "Mascot Airport Service Station *cod*\n" + "Inside Car Wash\n" + "237 O'Riordan St\n" + "Mascot NSW 2020\n" + "////////////////////////maps\n" + "7/30-32 Beaconsfield Street\n" + "Alexandria NSW 2015\n" + "////////////////////////\n" + "Pedders Mascot\n" + "Unit 1\n" + "20 Ricketty Street\n" + "Mascot NSW 2020\n" + "/////////////////////\n" + "Pay Charge\n" + "Mr Bump Smash Repair\n" + "Unit 12/122 Station Rd\n" + "Seven Hills NSW 2147\n" + "////////////////////\n" + "Pay Charge\n" + "Mr Bump Smash Repair\n" + "Unit 12 122 Station Rd\n" + "Seven Hills NSW 2147\n" + "/////// suburb spelling error, character in street line\n" + "Woollahra Auto***cod***\n" + "120, Oxford St\n" + "Woolahra NSW 1350\n" + "/// name not complete\n" + "North Caringbah Smash Rep\n" + "47 Captain Cook Drive\n" + "Caringbah NSW 2229\n" + "/////\n" + "BM Pro Service Centre\n" + "Unit8/ 1a Pritchard Plac\n" + "Peakhurst NSW 2210 \n" + "////\n" + "embassy smash repairs\n" + "unit 5d 23-25 windsor rd\n" + "northmead nsw 2152"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex); 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