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

re = /(?!(?!.*?<a)[^<]*<\/a>)(?<!")(?:(?:https?|ftp|file):\/\/|www\.|ftp\.|youtube\.|youtu\.be)[\-A-Z0-9\+\&\#\/%=~_|$?!:;,\.]*[A-Z0-9+&#\/%=~_|$]/mi str = 'youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk&feature=featured https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US //www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1 https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?t=120 https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube.com/HamdiKickProduction?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk "https://youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE", "https://www.youtube.com/embed/yVpbFMhOAwE", "youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE", "youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE", "http://youtu.be/yVpbFMhOAwE&t=2m", "http://www.youtube.com/embed/yVpbFMhOAwE&t=2m5s", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE&feature=g-vrec&t=30s", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVpbFMhOAwE&feature=player_embedded", "http://www.youtube.com/v/yVpbFMhOAwE?fs=1&hl=en_US", "http://www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom?v=yVpbFMhOAwE", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=yVpbFMhOAwE", "http://www.youtube.com/user/Scobleizer#p/u/1/1p3vcRhsYGo", "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zUVS4kJtrA&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLbzoR-pLrL6qucl8-lOnzvhFc2UM1tcZA", "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZu097wb8wU&list=RDFZu097wb8wU" youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk&feature=featured https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk //m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US http://www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US //www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US www.youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US youtube.com/v/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?fs=1&hl=en_US https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1 https://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk www.youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtube.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?autoplay=1 https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk?t=120 https://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk http://youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk //youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk youtu.be/DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube.com/HamdiKickProduction?v=DFYRQ_zQ-gk https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgc00bfF_PvO_2AvqJZHXFg https://www.youtube.com/c/NatGeoEdOrg/videos youtu.be/iwGFalTRHDA youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoBL33GT9S8&feature=share https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/embed/v=iwGFalTRHDA https://www.youtube.com/watch/iwGFalTRHDA http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?u=/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk&feature=share https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGFalTRHDA' subst = '<a href="$0">$0</a>' result = str.gsub(re, subst) # Print the result of the substitution puts 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 Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html