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

r"
"
mg

Test String

Code Generator

Language

Generated Code

# coding=utf8 # the above tag defines encoding for this document and is for Python 2.x compatibility import re regex = r"^(.*?)[^\S\n]*;[^\S\n](.*?)[^\S\n]*;[^\S\n](.*?)(?:[^\S\n]+)#[^\S\n]*(E[\w.]*)[^\S\n]*(?:\[\w\])[^\S\n]*\((.*)\)$" test_str = ("1F468 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: red hair # E11.0 [1] (👹‍🩰)\n" "1F468 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: bald # E11.0 [1] (👹‍đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: white hair # E11.0 [1] (👹‍🩳)\n" "1F468 1F3FB 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: light skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸ»â€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F468 1F3FB 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: light skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸ»â€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 1F3FB 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: light skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸ»â€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 1F3FB 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: light skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸ»â€đŸŠł)\n" "1F468 1F3FC 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-light skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŒâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F468 1F3FC 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-light skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŒâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 1F3FC 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-light skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŒâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 1F3FC 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-light skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŒâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F468 1F3FD 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸœâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F468 1F3FD 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸœâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 1F3FD 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸœâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 1F3FD 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸœâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F468 1F3FE 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-dark skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŸâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F468 1F3FE 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-dark skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŸâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 1F3FE 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-dark skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŸâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 1F3FE 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: medium-dark skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸŸâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F468 1F3FF 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: dark skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (👹🏿‍🩰)\n" "1F468 1F3FF 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: dark skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘šđŸżâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F468 1F3FF 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: dark skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (👹🏿‍đŸŠČ)\n" "1F468 1F3FF 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; man: dark skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (👹🏿‍🩳)\n" "1F469 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©â€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©â€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©â€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©â€đŸŠł)\n" "1F469 1F3FB 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: light skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 1F3FB 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: light skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 1F3FB 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: light skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 1F3FB 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: light skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸ»â€đŸŠł)\n" "1F469 1F3FC 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-light skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŒâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 1F3FC 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-light skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŒâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 1F3FC 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-light skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŒâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 1F3FC 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-light skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŒâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F469 1F3FD 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸœâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 1F3FD 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸœâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 1F3FD 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸœâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 1F3FD 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸœâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F469 1F3FE 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-dark skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŸâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 1F3FE 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-dark skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŸâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 1F3FE 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-dark skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŸâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 1F3FE 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: medium-dark skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸŸâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F469 1F3FF 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: dark skin tone, red hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸżâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F469 1F3FF 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: dark skin tone, curly hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸżâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F469 1F3FF 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: dark skin tone, bald # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸżâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F469 1F3FF 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; woman: dark skin tone, white hair # E11.0 [1] (đŸ‘©đŸżâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F9D1 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: red hair # E12.1 [1] (🧑‍🩰)\n" "1F9D1 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘â€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: bald # E12.1 [1] (🧑‍đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: white hair # E12.1 [1] (🧑‍🩳)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FB 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: light skin tone, red hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸ»â€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FB 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: light skin tone, curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸ»â€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FB 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: light skin tone, bald # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸ»â€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FB 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: light skin tone, white hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸ»â€đŸŠł)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FC 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-light skin tone, red hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŒâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FC 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-light skin tone, curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŒâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FC 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-light skin tone, bald # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŒâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FC 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-light skin tone, white hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŒâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FD 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium skin tone, red hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸœâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FD 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium skin tone, curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸœâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FD 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium skin tone, bald # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸœâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FD 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium skin tone, white hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸœâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FE 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-dark skin tone, red hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŸâ€đŸŠ°)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FE 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-dark skin tone, curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŸâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FE 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-dark skin tone, bald # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŸâ€đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FE 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: medium-dark skin tone, white hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸŸâ€đŸŠł)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FF 200D 1F9B0 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: dark skin tone, red hair # E12.1 [1] (🧑🏿‍🩰)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FF 200D 1F9B1 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: dark skin tone, curly hair # E12.1 [1] (đŸ§‘đŸżâ€đŸŠ±)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FF 200D 1F9B2 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: dark skin tone, bald # E12.1 [1] (🧑🏿‍đŸŠČ)\n" "1F9D1 1F3FF 200D 1F9B3 ; RGI_Emoji_ZWJ_Sequence ; person: dark skin tone, white hair # E12.1 [1] (🧑🏿‍🩳)") matches = re.finditer(regex, test_str, re.MULTILINE) 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