mirror of
https://github.com/ziishaned/learn-regex.git
synced 2025-09-07 06:07:00 -04:00
605 lines
25 KiB
Markdown
605 lines
25 KiB
Markdown
<p align="center">
|
|
<br/>
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/ziishaned/learn-regex">
|
|
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/bYwl7Vf.png" alt="Learn Regex">
|
|
</a>
|
|
<br /><br />
|
|
<p>
|
|
<a href="https://twitter.com/ziishaned">
|
|
<img src="https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/ziishaned.svg?style=social" />
|
|
</a>
|
|
<a href="https://github.com/ziishaned">
|
|
<img src="https://img.shields.io/github/followers/ziishaned.svg?label=Follow%20%40ziishaned&style=social" />
|
|
</a>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
## Translations:
|
|
|
|
* [English](README.md)
|
|
* [German](translations/README-de.md)
|
|
* [Español](translations/README-es.md)
|
|
* [Français](translations/README-fr.md)
|
|
* [Português do Brasil](translations/README-pt_BR.md)
|
|
* [中文版](translations/README-cn.md)
|
|
* [日本語](translations/README-ja.md)
|
|
* [한국어](translations/README-ko.md)
|
|
* [Turkish](translations/README-tr.md)
|
|
* [Greek](translations/README-gr.md)
|
|
* [Magyar](translations/README-hu.md)
|
|
* [Polish](translations/README-pl.md)
|
|
* [Русский](translations/README-ru.md)
|
|
* [Tiếng Việt](translations/README-vn.md)
|
|
* [فارسی](translations/README-fa.md)
|
|
|
|
## What is Regular Expression?
|
|
|
|
> A regular expression is a group of characters or symbols which is used to find a specific pattern in a text.
|
|
|
|
A regular expression is a pattern that is matched against a subject string from
|
|
left to right. Regular expressions are used to replace text within a string,
|
|
validating forms, extracting a substring from a string based on a pattern match,
|
|
and so much more. The term "regular expression" is a mouthful, so you will usually
|
|
find the term abbreviated to "regex" or "regexp".
|
|
|
|
Imagine you are writing an application and you want to set the rules for when a
|
|
user chooses their username. We want to allow the username to contain letters,
|
|
numbers, underscores and hyphens. We also want to limit the number of characters
|
|
in the username so it does not look ugly. We can use the following regular expression to
|
|
validate the username:
|
|
|
|
<br/><br/>
|
|
<p align="center">
|
|
<img src="./img/regexp-en.png" alt="Regular expression">
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
The regular expression above can accept the strings `john_doe`, `jo-hn_doe` and
|
|
`john12_as`. It does not match `Jo` because that string contains an uppercase
|
|
letter and also it is too short.
|
|
|
|
## Table of Contents
|
|
|
|
- [Basic Matchers](#1-basic-matchers)
|
|
- [Meta Characters](#2-meta-characters)
|
|
- [The Full Stop](#21-the-full-stops)
|
|
- [Character Sets](#22-character-sets)
|
|
- [Negated Character Sets](#221-negated-character-sets)
|
|
- [Repetitions](#23-repetitions)
|
|
- [The Star](#231-the-star)
|
|
- [The Plus](#232-the-plus)
|
|
- [The Question Mark](#233-the-question-mark)
|
|
- [Braces](#24-braces)
|
|
- [Capturing Groups](#25-capturing-groups)
|
|
- [Non-Capturing Groups](#251-non-capturing-groups)
|
|
- [Alternation](#26-alternation)
|
|
- [Escaping Special Characters](#27-escaping-special-characters)
|
|
- [Anchors](#28-anchors)
|
|
- [The Caret](#281-the-caret)
|
|
- [The Dollar Sign](#282-the-dollar-sign)
|
|
- [Shorthand Character Sets](#3-shorthand-character-sets)
|
|
- [Lookarounds](#4-lookarounds)
|
|
- [Positive Lookahead](#41-positive-lookahead)
|
|
- [Negative Lookahead](#42-negative-lookahead)
|
|
- [Positive Lookbehind](#43-positive-lookbehind)
|
|
- [Negative Lookbehind](#44-negative-lookbehind)
|
|
- [Flags](#5-flags)
|
|
- [Case Insensitive](#51-case-insensitive)
|
|
- [Global Search](#52-global-search)
|
|
- [Multiline](#53-multiline)
|
|
- [Greedy vs Lazy Matching](#6-greedy-vs-lazy-matching)
|
|
|
|
## 1. Basic Matchers
|
|
|
|
A regular expression is just a pattern of characters that we use to perform a
|
|
search in a text. For example, the regular expression `the` means: the letter
|
|
`t`, followed by the letter `h`, followed by the letter `e`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"the" => The fat cat sat on <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/dmRygT/1)
|
|
|
|
The regular expression `123` matches the string `123`. The regular expression is
|
|
matched against an input string by comparing each character in the regular
|
|
expression to each character in the input string, one after another. Regular
|
|
expressions are normally case-sensitive so the regular expression `The` would
|
|
not match the string `the`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"The" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> fat cat sat on the mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/1paXsy/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2. Meta Characters
|
|
|
|
Meta characters are the building blocks of regular expressions. Meta
|
|
characters do not stand for themselves but instead are interpreted in some
|
|
special way. Some meta characters have a special meaning and are written inside
|
|
square brackets. The meta characters are as follows:
|
|
|
|
|Meta character|Description|
|
|
|:----:|----|
|
|
|.|Period matches any single character except a line break.|
|
|
|[ ]|Character class. Matches any character contained between the square brackets.|
|
|
|[^ ]|Negated character class. Matches any character that is not contained between the square brackets|
|
|
|*|Matches 0 or more repetitions of the preceding symbol.|
|
|
|+|Matches 1 or more repetitions of the preceding symbol.|
|
|
|?|Makes the preceding symbol optional.|
|
|
|{n,m}|Braces. Matches at least "n" but not more than "m" repetitions of the preceding symbol.|
|
|
|(xyz)|Character group. Matches the characters xyz in that exact order.|
|
|
|||Alternation. Matches either the characters before or the characters after the symbol.|
|
|
|\|Escapes the next character. This allows you to match reserved characters <code>[ ] ( ) { } . * + ? ^ $ \ |</code>|
|
|
|^|Matches the beginning of the input.|
|
|
|$|Matches the end of the input.|
|
|
|
|
## 2.1 The Full Stop
|
|
|
|
The full stop `.` is the simplest example of a meta character. The meta character `.`
|
|
matches any single character. It will not match return or newline characters.
|
|
For example, the regular expression `.ar` means: any character, followed by the
|
|
letter `a`, followed by the letter `r`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
".ar" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>car</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>par</strong></a>ked in the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>gar</strong></a>age.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/xc9GkU/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.2 Character Sets
|
|
|
|
Character sets are also called character classes. Square brackets are used to
|
|
specify character sets. Use a hyphen inside a character set to specify the
|
|
characters' range. The order of the character range inside the square brackets
|
|
doesn't matter. For example, the regular expression `[Tt]he` means: an uppercase
|
|
`T` or lowercase `t`, followed by the letter `h`, followed by the letter `e`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[Tt]he" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> car parked in <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/2ITLQ4/1)
|
|
|
|
A period inside a character set, however, means a literal period. The regular
|
|
expression `ar[.]` means: a lowercase character `a`, followed by the letter `r`,
|
|
followed by a period `.` character.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"ar[.]" => A garage is a good place to park a c<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>ar.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/wL3xtE/1)
|
|
|
|
### 2.2.1 Negated Character Sets
|
|
|
|
In general, the caret symbol represents the start of the string, but when it is
|
|
typed after the opening square bracket it negates the character set. For
|
|
example, the regular expression `[^c]ar` means: any character except `c`,
|
|
followed by the character `a`, followed by the letter `r`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[^c]ar" => The car <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>par</strong></a>ked in the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>gar</strong></a>age.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/nNNlq3/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.3 Repetitions
|
|
|
|
The meta characters `+`, `*` or `?` are used to specify how many times a
|
|
subpattern can occur. These meta characters act differently in different
|
|
situations.
|
|
|
|
### 2.3.1 The Star
|
|
|
|
The `*` symbol matches zero or more repetitions of the preceding matcher. The
|
|
regular expression `a*` means: zero or more repetitions of the preceding lowercase
|
|
character `a`. But if it appears after a character set or class then it finds
|
|
the repetitions of the whole character set. For example, the regular expression
|
|
`[a-z]*` means: any number of lowercase letters in a row.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[a-z]*" => T<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>he</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>car</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>parked</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>in</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>garage</strong></a> #21.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/7m8me5/1)
|
|
|
|
The `*` symbol can be used with the meta character `.` to match any string of
|
|
characters `.*`. The `*` symbol can be used with the whitespace character `\s`
|
|
to match a string of whitespace characters. For example, the expression
|
|
`\s*cat\s*` means: zero or more spaces, followed by a lowercase `c`,
|
|
followed by a lowercase `a`, followed by a lowercase `t`,
|
|
followed by zero or more spaces.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"\s*cat\s*" => The fat<a href="#learn-regex"><strong> cat </strong></a>sat on the con<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>cat</strong></a>enation.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/gGrwuz/1)
|
|
|
|
### 2.3.2 The Plus
|
|
|
|
The `+` symbol matches one or more repetitions of the preceding character. For
|
|
example, the regular expression `c.+t` means: a lowercase `c`, followed by
|
|
at least one character, followed by a lowercase `t`. It needs to be
|
|
clarified that`t` is the last `t` in the sentence.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"c.+t" => The fat <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>cat sat on the mat</strong></a>.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/Dzf9Aa/1)
|
|
|
|
### 2.3.3 The Question Mark
|
|
|
|
In regular expressions, the meta character `?` makes the preceding character
|
|
optional. This symbol matches zero or one instance of the preceding character.
|
|
For example, the regular expression `[T]?he` means: Optional uppercase
|
|
`T`, followed by a lowercase `h`, followed bya lowercase `e`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[T]he" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> car is parked in the garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/cIg9zm/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[T]?he" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> car is parked in t<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>he</strong></a> garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/kPpO2x/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.4 Braces
|
|
|
|
In regular expressions, braces (also called quantifiers) are used to
|
|
specify the number of times that a character or a group of characters can be
|
|
repeated. For example, the regular expression `[0-9]{2,3}` means: Match at least
|
|
2 digits, but not more than 3, ranging from 0 to 9.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[0-9]{2,3}" => The number was 9.<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>999</strong></a>7 but we rounded it off to <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>10</strong></a>.0.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/juM86s/1)
|
|
|
|
We can leave out the second number. For example, the regular expression
|
|
`[0-9]{2,}` means: Match 2 or more digits. If we also remove the comma, the
|
|
regular expression `[0-9]{3}` means: Match exactly 3 digits.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[0-9]{2,}" => The number was 9.<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>9997</strong></a> but we rounded it off to <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>10</strong></a>.0.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/Gdy4w5/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"[0-9]{3}" => The number was 9.<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>999</strong></a>7 but we rounded it off to 10.0.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/Sivu30/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.5 Capturing Groups
|
|
|
|
A capturing group is a group of subpatterns that is written inside parentheses
|
|
`(...)`. As discussed before, in regular expressions, if we put a quantifier
|
|
after a character then it will repeat the preceding character. But if we put a quantifier
|
|
after a capturing group then it repeats the whole capturing group. For example,
|
|
the regular expression `(ab)*` matches zero or more repetitions of the character
|
|
"ab". We can also use the alternation `|` meta character inside a capturing group.
|
|
For example, the regular expression `(c|g|p)ar` means: a lowercase `c`,
|
|
`g` or `p`, followed by `a`, followed by `r`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(c|g|p)ar" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>car</strong></a> is <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>par</strong></a>ked in the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>gar</strong></a>age.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/tUxrBG/1)
|
|
|
|
Note that capturing groups do not only match, but also capture, the characters for use in
|
|
the parent language. The parent language could be Python or JavaScript or virtually any
|
|
language that implements regular expressions in a function definition.
|
|
|
|
### 2.5.1 Non-Capturing Groups
|
|
|
|
A non-capturing group is a capturing group that matches the characters but
|
|
does not capture the group. A non-capturing group is denoted by a `?` followed by a `:`
|
|
within parentheses `(...)`. For example, the regular expression `(?:c|g|p)ar` is similar to
|
|
`(c|g|p)ar` in that it matches the same characters but will not create a capture group.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(?:c|g|p)ar" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>car</strong></a> is <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>par</strong></a>ked in the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>gar</strong></a>age.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/Rm7Me8/1)
|
|
|
|
Non-capturing groups can come in handy when used in find-and-replace functionality or
|
|
when mixed with capturing groups to keep the overview when producing any other kind of output.
|
|
See also [4. Lookaround](#4-lookaround).
|
|
|
|
## 2.6 Alternation
|
|
|
|
In a regular expression, the vertical bar `|` is used to define alternation.
|
|
Alternation is like an OR statement between multiple expressions. Now, you may be
|
|
thinking that character sets and alternation work the same way. But the big
|
|
difference between character sets and alternation is that character sets work at the
|
|
character level but alternation works at the expression level. For example, the
|
|
regular expression `(T|t)he|car` means: either (an uppercase `T` or a lowercase
|
|
`t`, followed by a lowercase `h`, followed by a lowercase `e`) OR
|
|
(a lowercase `c`, followed by a lowercase `a`, followed by
|
|
a lowercase `r`). Note that I included the parentheses for clarity, to show that either expression
|
|
in parentheses can be met and it will match.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(T|t)he|car" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>car</strong></a> is parked in <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/fBXyX0/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.7 Escaping Special Characters
|
|
|
|
A backslash `\` is used in regular expressions to escape the next character. This
|
|
allows us to include reserved characters such as `{ } [ ] / \ + * . $ ^ | ?` as matching characters. To use one of these special character as a matching character, prepend it with `\`.
|
|
|
|
For example, the regular expression `.` is used to match any character except a
|
|
newline. Now, to match `.` in an input string, the regular expression
|
|
`(f|c|m)at\.?` means: a lowercase `f`, `c` or `m`, followed by a lowercase
|
|
`a`, followed by a lowercase `t`, followed by an optional `.`
|
|
character.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(f|c|m)at\.?" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>fat</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>cat</strong></a> sat on the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>mat.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/DOc5Nu/1)
|
|
|
|
## 2.8 Anchors
|
|
|
|
In regular expressions, we use anchors to check if the matching symbol is the
|
|
starting symbol or ending symbol of the input string. Anchors are of two types:
|
|
The first type is the caret `^` that checks if the matching character is the first
|
|
character of the input and the second type is the dollar sign `$` which checks if a matching
|
|
character is the last character of the input string.
|
|
|
|
### 2.8.1 The Caret
|
|
|
|
The caret symbol `^` is used to check if a matching character is the first character
|
|
of the input string. If we apply the following regular expression `^a` (meaning 'a' must be
|
|
the starting character) to the string `abc`, it will match `a`. But if we apply
|
|
the regular expression `^b` to the above string, it will not match anything.
|
|
Because in the string `abc`, the "b" is not the starting character. Let's take a look
|
|
at another regular expression `^(T|t)he` which means: an uppercase `T` or
|
|
a lowercase `t` must be the first character in the string, followed by a
|
|
lowercase `h`, followed by a lowercase `e`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(T|t)he" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> car is parked in <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/5ljjgB/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"^(T|t)he" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> car is parked in the garage.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/jXrKne/1)
|
|
|
|
### 2.8.2 The Dollar Sign
|
|
|
|
The dollar sign `$` is used to check if a matching character is the last character
|
|
in the string. For example, the regular expression `(at\.)$` means: a
|
|
lowercase `a`, followed by a lowercase `t`, followed by a `.`
|
|
character and the matcher must be at the end of the string.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(at\.)" => The fat c<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>at.</strong></a> s<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>at.</strong></a> on the m<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>at.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/y4Au4D/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(at\.)$" => The fat cat. sat. on the m<a href="#learn-regex"><strong>at.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/t0AkOd/1)
|
|
|
|
## 3. Shorthand Character Sets
|
|
|
|
There are a number of convenient shorthands for commonly used character sets/
|
|
regular expressions:
|
|
|
|
|Shorthand|Description|
|
|
|:----:|----|
|
|
|.|Any character except new line|
|
|
|\w|Matches alphanumeric characters: `[a-zA-Z0-9_]`|
|
|
|\W|Matches non-alphanumeric characters: `[^\w]`|
|
|
|\d|Matches digits: `[0-9]`|
|
|
|\D|Matches non-digits: `[^\d]`|
|
|
|\s|Matches whitespace characters: `[\t\n\f\r\p{Z}]`|
|
|
|\S|Matches non-whitespace characters: `[^\s]`|
|
|
|
|
## 4. Lookarounds
|
|
|
|
Lookbehinds and lookaheads (also called lookarounds) are specific types of
|
|
***non-capturing groups*** (used to match a pattern but without including it in the matching
|
|
list). Lookarounds are used when we a pattern must be
|
|
preceded or followed by another pattern. For example, imagine we want to get all
|
|
numbers that are preceded by the `$` character from the string
|
|
`$4.44 and $10.88`. We will use the following regular expression `(?<=\$)[0-9\.]*`
|
|
which means: get all the numbers which contain the `.` character and are preceded
|
|
by the `$` character. These are the lookarounds that are used in regular
|
|
expressions:
|
|
|
|
|Symbol|Description|
|
|
|:----:|----|
|
|
|?=|Positive Lookahead|
|
|
|?!|Negative Lookahead|
|
|
|?<=|Positive Lookbehind|
|
|
|?<!|Negative Lookbehind|
|
|
|
|
### 4.1 Positive Lookahead
|
|
|
|
The positive lookahead asserts that the first part of the expression must be
|
|
followed by the lookahead expression. The returned match only contains the text
|
|
that is matched by the first part of the expression. To define a positive
|
|
lookahead, parentheses are used. Within those parentheses, a question mark with
|
|
an equals sign is used like this: `(?=...)`. The lookahead expressions is written after
|
|
the equals sign inside parentheses. For example, the regular expression
|
|
`(T|t)he(?=\sfat)` means: match either a lowercase `t` or an uppercase
|
|
`T`, followed by the letter `h`, followed by the letter `e`. In parentheses we
|
|
define a positive lookahead which tells the regular expression engine to match `The`
|
|
or `the` only if it's followed by the word `fat`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(T|t)he(?=\sfat)" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> fat cat sat on the mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/IDDARt/1)
|
|
|
|
### 4.2 Negative Lookahead
|
|
|
|
Negative lookaheads are used when we need to get all matches from an input string
|
|
that are not followed by a certain pattern. A negative lookahead is written the same way as a
|
|
positive lookahead. The only difference is, instead of an equals sign `=`, we
|
|
use an exclamation mark `!` to indicate negation i.e. `(?!...)`. Let's take a look at the following
|
|
regular expression `(T|t)he(?!\sfat)` which means: get all `The` or `the` words
|
|
from the input string that are not followed by a space character and the word `fat`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(T|t)he(?!\sfat)" => The fat cat sat on <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/V32Npg/1)
|
|
|
|
### 4.3 Positive Lookbehind
|
|
|
|
Positive lookbehinds are used to get all the matches that are preceded by a
|
|
specific pattern. Positive lookbehinds are written `(?<=...)`. For example, the
|
|
regular expression `(?<=(T|t)he\s)(fat|mat)` means: get all `fat` or `mat` words
|
|
from the input string that come after the word `The` or `the`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(?<=(T|t)he\s)(fat|mat)" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>fat</strong></a> cat sat on the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>mat</strong></a>.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/avH165/1)
|
|
|
|
### 4.4 Negative Lookbehind
|
|
|
|
Negative lookbehinds are used to get all the matches that are not preceded by a
|
|
specific pattern. Negative lookbehinds are written `(?<!...)`. For example, the
|
|
regular expression `(?<!(T|t)he\s)(cat)` means: get all `cat` words from the input
|
|
string that are not after the word `The` or `the`.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"(?<!(T|t)he\s)(cat)" => The cat sat on <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>cat</strong></a>.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/8Efx5G/1)
|
|
|
|
## 5. Flags
|
|
|
|
Flags are also called modifiers because they modify the output of a regular
|
|
expression. These flags can be used in any order or combination, and are an
|
|
integral part of the RegExp.
|
|
|
|
|Flag|Description|
|
|
|:----:|----|
|
|
|i|Case insensitive: Match will be case-insensitive.|
|
|
|g|Global Search: Match all instances, not just the first.|
|
|
|m|Multiline: Anchor meta characters work on each line.|
|
|
|
|
### 5.1 Case Insensitive
|
|
|
|
The `i` modifier is used to perform case-insensitive matching. For example, the
|
|
regular expression `/The/gi` means: an uppercase `T`, followed by a lowercase
|
|
`h`, followed by an `e`. And at the end of regular expression
|
|
the `i` flag tells the regular expression engine to ignore the case. As you can
|
|
see, we also provided `g` flag because we want to search for the pattern in the
|
|
whole input string.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"The" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> fat cat sat on the mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/dpQyf9/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/The/gi" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The</strong></a> fat cat sat on <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>the</strong></a> mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/ahfiuh/1)
|
|
|
|
### 5.2 Global Search
|
|
|
|
The `g` modifier is used to perform a global match (finds all matches rather than
|
|
stopping after the first match). For example, the regular expression`/.(at)/g`
|
|
means: any character except a new line, followed by a lowercase `a`,
|
|
followed by a lowercase `t`. Because we provided the `g` flag at the end of
|
|
the regular expression, it will now find all matches in the input string, not just the first one (which is the default behavior).
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/.(at)/" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>fat</strong></a> cat sat on the mat.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/jnk6gM/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/.(at)/g" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>fat</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>cat</strong></a> <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>sat</strong></a> on the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>mat</strong></a>.
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/dO1nef/1)
|
|
|
|
### 5.3 Multiline
|
|
|
|
The `m` modifier is used to perform a multi-line match. As we discussed earlier,
|
|
anchors `(^, $)` are used to check if a pattern is at the beginning of the input or
|
|
the end. But if we want the anchors to work on each line, we use
|
|
the `m` flag. For example, the regular expression `/at(.)?$/gm` means: a lowercase
|
|
`a`, followed by a lowercase `t` and, optionally, anything except
|
|
a new line. And because of the `m` flag, the regular expression engine now matches patterns
|
|
at the end of each line in a string.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/.at(.)?$/" => The fat
|
|
cat sat
|
|
on the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>mat.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/hoGMkP/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/.at(.)?$/gm" => The <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>fat</strong></a>
|
|
cat <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>sat</strong></a>
|
|
on the <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>mat.</strong></a>
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/E88WE2/1)
|
|
|
|
## 6. Greedy vs Lazy Matching
|
|
By default, a regex will perform a greedy match, which means the match will be as long as
|
|
possible. We can use `?` to match in a lazy way, which means the match should be as short as possible.
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/(.*at)/" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The fat cat sat on the mat</strong></a>. </pre>
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/AyAdgJ/1)
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
"/(.*?at)/" => <a href="#learn-regex"><strong>The fat</strong></a> cat sat on the mat. </pre>
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Test the regular expression](https://regex101.com/r/AyAdgJ/2)
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Contribution
|
|
|
|
* Open a pull request with improvements
|
|
* Discuss ideas in issues
|
|
* Spread the word
|
|
* Reach out with any feedback [](https://twitter.com/ziishaned)
|
|
|
|
## License
|
|
|
|
MIT © [Zeeshan Ahmad](https://twitter.com/ziishaned)
|