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 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
  • Match everything enclosed
    (?:...)
  • Capture everything enclosed
    (...)
  • 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

/
/
gi

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 = "<a href=\"http.*soundcloud.com.*sets\\/(.*).*<\\/a>"; final String string = "the following URL will be found in a &lt;A&gt;:<br>\n" + "<em><a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&amp;v=JozAmXo2bDE\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&amp;v=JozAmXo2bDE</a>\n" + "<br>\n\n" + "<a href=\"https://soundcloud.com/buzzdeny/sets/deutsch-er-hiphop-rap\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://soundcloud.com/buzzdeny/sets/deutsch-er-hiphop-rap</a>\n\n\n" + "<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2QAMMSL40\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2QAMMSL40</a>\n" + "<br>\n" + "<a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/NLqAF9hrVbY\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.youtube.com/embed/NLqAF9hrVbY</a>\n" + "<br>\n" + "<a href=\"http://youtu.be/NLqAF9hrVbY\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://youtu.be/NLqAF9hrVbY</a>\n" + "</em><br>\n" + "<a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/sandalsResorts#p/c/54B8C800269D7C1B/0/FJUvudQsKCM\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.youtube.com/sandalsResorts#p/c/54B8C800269D7C1B/0/FJUvudQsKCM</a>\n" + "</p>\n\n" + "<a href=\"/uploads/files/1438381231924-humanistische-friedenspartei.mp3\">Humanistische - Friedenspartei.mp3</a>\n\n" + "<p>nice... <a href=\"/uploads/files/1438418374790-drumloop053_ambnt_160_x_sc5.wav\">DRUMLOOP053_AMBNT_160_X_SC5.wav</a></p>\n\n" + "<a href=\"/uploads/files/1438418374790-drumloop053_ambnt_160_x_sc5.wav\">DRUMLOOP053_AMBNT_160_X_SC5.wav</a>\n\n" + "<p>infos:<br>\n" + "<a href=\"https://github.com/ogerly/nodebb-plugin-youtube-lite/blob/master/library.js\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://github.com/ogerly/nodebb-plugin-youtube-lite/blob/master/library.js</a></p>\n" + "<p><a href=\"https://github.com/ogerly/nodebb-plugin-youtube-lite\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://github.com/ogerly/nodebb-plugin-youtube-lite</a></p>\n\n" + " \n" + "</div>"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE); 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