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

/
/

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"Original title: (.*)" test_str = ("\n" "Conversation opened. 1 read message.\n\n" "Skip to content\n" "Using Animateka Mail with screen readers\n" "prints@animateka.si\n" "Search\n\n\n\n" "Click here to enable desktop notifications for Animateka Mail. Learn more Hide\n" "Mail\n" "COMPOSE\n" "Labels\n" "Inbox\n" "Starred\n" "Sent Mail\n" "Katja\n" "Smail\n" "Submissions\n" "More \n" " \n" " More \n" "21 of 22 \n" " \n" "Print all In new window\n" "Prijavnica\n" "Inbox\n" "x \n\n" "website@animateka.si\n" "Jul 6 (3 days ago)\n\n" "to misak \n" "I apply with my film to the following competition programme:: CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COMPETITION SHORT ANIMATED FILMS\n" "Original title: Menagerie\n" "English title: Menagerie\n" "Running time: 03:28\n" "Animation Technique: pencil and pen on paper\n" "Screening format: HD file\n" "Production year: 2014\n" "Country: Canada\n" "Suitable for children: 0\n" "Age group: 3\n" "Original language: english / no dialogue\n" "Subtitles: no dialogue\n" "Producer: Vancouver Film School\n" "Distributer: Julian Gallese\n" "Director: Julian Gallese\n" "Name: Julian Gallese\n" "Script: Julian Gallese\n" "Address: 320 abbott street\n" "Design: Julian Gallese\n" "City: Vancouver\n" "Animation: Julian Gallese\n" "ZIP: V6B 2K9\n" "Editing: Rob Wood\n" "Country: Canada\n" "Music: Lee Hutzulak\n" "Phone: 7788295169\n" "Sound: Julian Gallese\n" "Email: juliangallese@gmail.com\n" "SHORT SYNOPSIS: A bird in the water is dreaming about a forest, an ocean liner and himself. Then the tide drifts him to a strange shore.\n" "SHORT BIOGRAPHY AND FILMOGRAPHY OF THE DIRECTOR: Julian is an artist born in 1992. The unknown is his recurrent theme. His work is a constant exploration of the subconscious. His drawings and storytelling brings up the absurd, in an approach that honours irrationality over technique.\n" "filmography: menagerie (2014), untitled (2014)\n" "Previous festival screenings and awards: - Escala humana, Des Pacio art gallery\n" "- Spike & Mike's festival of Animation\n" "- Athens Animfest '15\n" "- Dum-D Student Animation Festival\n" "- Future Film Festival, Italy\n" "- Fest Anča International Animation Festival, Slovakia\n" "Selection preview copy of the film: 1\n" "Online film submission: 1\n" "Link: https://vimeo.com/115080765\n" "I, the undersigned, acknowledge and agree:: 1, 1\n" "By checking the option(s) bellow, I agree:: 1, 2, 3\n" "I have read:: 1\n\n" "---\n\n" "http://www.animateka.si/2015/tl_files/upload/stillframe_lq.jpg\n" "http://www.animateka.si/2015/tl_files/upload/screenshot3.jpg\n" "http://www.animateka.si/2015/tl_files/upload/julian-6.jpg\n" " \n" "Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward\n" "0.08 GB (0%) of 15 GB used\n" "Manage\n" "Program Policies\n" "Powered by Google\n" "Last account activity: 27 minutes ago\n" "Details\n\n") matches = re.search(regex, test_str) if matches: print ("Match was found at {start}-{end}: {match}".format(start = matches.start(), end = matches.end(), match = matches.group())) for groupNum in range(0, len(matches.groups())): groupNum = groupNum + 1 print ("Group {groupNum} found at {start}-{end}: {group}".format(groupNum = groupNum, start = matches.start(groupNum), end = matches.end(groupNum), group = matches.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