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

/
/
gm

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 = "(?>\"\")(\\w*)"; final String string = "Sql.Database(\"GOULBDB42\", \"PALMSDB\", [Query=\"SELECT \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\" as LicNo#(lf), \"\"tblClassification\"\".\"\"Description\"\" as Status#(lf), \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"AnniversaryDate\"\" as Anniv_date#(lf), \"\"tblLocation\"\".\"\"LocationName\"\" as Location#(lf), \"\"tblLGA\"\".\"\"Name\"\" as LicLGA#(lf), \"\"viewInstrumentAccountableParty\"\".\"\"APName\"\" as Licensee#(lf), \"\"tblActivityGroup\"\".\"\"Description\"\" as Schudeled_Activity#(lf), \"\"tblFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"Description\"\" as Fee_Based_Activity#(lf), \"\"tblPOEOLicenceFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"PrimaryFlag\"\" as PrimaryFBA#(lf), \"\"tblInstrument\"\".\"\"DateIssued\"\" as DateIssued#(lf), \"\"tblAddress\"\".\"\"Suburb\"\" as LocationSuburb#(lf), \"\"tblAddress\"\".\"\"StateCode\"\" as LocationState#(lf)FROM (((((((((((\"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\" \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\" INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblInstrument\"\" \"\"tblInstrument\"\" ON \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\"=\"\"tblInstrument\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblPOEOLicenceFeeBasedActivity\"\" \"\"tblPOEOLicenceFeeBasedActivity\"\" ON \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\"=\"\"tblPOEOLicenceFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"viewInstrumentAccountableParty\"\" \"\"viewInstrumentAccountableParty\"\" ON \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\"=\"\"viewInstrumentAccountableParty\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblInstrumentLocation\"\" \"\"tblInstrumentLocation\"\" ON \"\"tblPOEOLicence\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\"=\"\"tblInstrumentLocation\"\".\"\"InstrumentID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblLocation\"\" \"\"tblLocation\"\" ON \"\"tblInstrumentLocation\"\".\"\"LocationID\"\"=\"\"tblLocation\"\".\"\"LocationID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblLandTitle\"\" \"\"tblLandTitle\"\" ON \"\"tblLocation\"\".\"\"LocationID\"\"=\"\"tblLandTitle\"\".\"\"LocationID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblAddress\"\" \"\"tblAddress\"\" ON \"\"tblLocation\"\".\"\"AddressID\"\"=\"\"tblAddress\"\".\"\"AddressID\"\") LEFT OUTER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblLandTitleLGA\"\" \"\"tblLandTitleLGA\"\" ON \"\"tblLandTitle\"\".\"\"LandTitleID\"\"=\"\"tblLandTitleLGA\"\".\"\"LandTitleID\"\") LEFT OUTER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblLGA\"\" \"\"tblLGA\"\" ON \"\"tblLandTitleLGA\"\".\"\"LGAID\"\"=\"\"tblLGA\"\".\"\"LGAID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblFeeBasedActivity\"\" \"\"tblFeeBasedActivity\"\" ON \"\"tblPOEOLicenceFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"FeeBasedActivityID\"\"=\"\"tblFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"FeeBasedActivityID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblActivityGroup\"\" \"\"tblActivityGroup\"\" ON \"\"tblFeeBasedActivity\"\".\"\"ActivityGroupID\"\"=\"\"tblActivityGroup\"\".\"\"ActivityGroupID\"\") INNER JOIN \"\"PALMSDB\"\".\"\"dbo\"\".\"\"tblClassification\"\" \"\"tblClassification\"\" ON \"\"tblInstrument\"\".\"\"InstrumentStatusID\"\"=\"\"tblClassification\"\".\"\"ClassificationID\"\"#(lf)\"])"; 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