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

/
/
gmi

Test String

Substitution

Processing...

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)[^<]*<\\/a>)(?<!\")(?:(?:https?|ftp|file):\\/\\/|www\\.|ftp\\.|youtube\\.|youtu\\.be)[\\-A-Z0-9\\+\\&\\#\\/%=~_|$?!:;,\\.]*[A-Z0-9+&#\\/%=~_|$]"; final String string = "youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share\n" + "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk&feature=featured\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "//www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "https://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?t=120\n" + "https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/HamdiKickProduction?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n\n\n" + "\"https://youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"http://youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE&t=2m\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/yVpbFMhOAwE&t=2m5s\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE&feature=g-vrec&t=30s\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE&feature=player_embedded\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/v/yVpbFMhOAwE?fs=1&hl=en_US\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=yVpbFMhOAwE\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo\",\n" + "\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zUVS4kJtrA&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLbzoR-pLrL6qucl8-lOnzvhFc2UM1tcZA\",\n" + "\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZu097wb8wU&list=RDFZu097wb8wU\"\n\n\n" + "youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share\n" + "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n\n\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk&feature=featured\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "//www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n" + "youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "https://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1\n\n\n" + "https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?t=120\n" + "https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "http://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "//youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n" + "youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/HamdiKickProduction?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk\n\n\n\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgc00bfF_PvO_2AvqJZHXFg\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/c/NatGeoEdOrg/videos\n\n" + " youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA\n" + "http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share\n" + "https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA"; final String subst = "<a href=\"$0\">$0</a>"; final Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex, Pattern.MULTILINE | Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE); final Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string); // The substituted value will be contained in the result variable final String result = matcher.replaceAll(subst); System.out.println("Substitution result: " + result); } }

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