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

/
/
g

Test String

Code Generator

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+)(\\S+)=[\"']?((?:.(?![\"']?\\s+(?:\\S+)=|[>\"']))+.)[\"']?"; final String string = "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">On Friday, November 13, 2015, at approximately 3:24 p.m., the Sacramento Police Department responded to the intersection of Mabel Street and Silver Eagle Road regarding the report of a shooting.</span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Officers received additional information that the victim&rsquo;s vehicle, occupied by five juveniles, was driving east-bound on Silver Eagle Road when it stopped at the intersection of Mabel Street.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">At that time, the unknown suspect(s) fired multiple rounds at the vehicle, striking the driver and the front passenger. </span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp;</span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The suspect(s) fled the scene in an unknown direction of travel.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">It is unknown at this time if the suspect(s) were in a vehicle or on foot at the time of the assault.</span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">After the shooting, all of the passengers exited the vehicle.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">One of the passengers put the critically-injured driver in the back seat of the car and drove him to the 1400 block of Grand Avenue.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Sacramento Fire Department personnel responded and transported the 17-year-old juvenile to an area hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries. </span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The remaining juveniles hailed an uninvolved, passerby who transported the front passenger to an area hospital where he is being treated for a non-life threatening injury.</span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp; </span></span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Homicide detectives along with Crime Scene Investigators were summoned to the crime scene to begin collecting evidence, and canvassing the area. </span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">A specific motive has not been determined in this incident.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\">The investigation remains very active and no arrests have been made.</span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp; </span></span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>\n" + "<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 10pt;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Gill Sans MT&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\">Sacramento Police Department detectives encourage any witnesses with information to contact the dispatch center at (916) 264-5471 or Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP (4357) or text in a tip to 274637 (CRIMES). Enter SACTIP followed by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.</span></span></p>"; 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