Regular Expressions Reference Guide
Dot (.)
Symbol: .
Description: Matches any single character except newline
Example: a.c matches "abc", "axc", "a!c"
Caret (^)
Symbol: ^
Description: Matches the beginning of a line or string
Example: ^hello matches "hello" at start
Dollar Sign ($)
Symbol: $
Description: Matches the end of a line or string
Example: world$ matches "world" at end
Backslash (\)
Symbol: \
Description: Escape character for special chars
Example: \. matches ".", \d matches digits
Character Class []
Symbol: [ ]
Description: Matches any single character inside brackets
Example: [abc] or [a-z]
Negated Class [^...]
Symbol: [^...]
Description: Matches any character NOT in set
Example: [^0-9] matches non-digit
Asterisk (*)
Symbol: *
Description: Matches zero or more of preceding element
Example: a* matches "", "a", "aa"
Plus (+)
Symbol: +
Description: Matches one or more of preceding element
Example: a+ matches "a", "aa"
Question Mark (?)
Symbol: ?
Description: Matches zero or one occurrence
Example: colou?r matches "color" or "colour"
Curly Braces ({})
Symbol: {n},{n,},{n,m}
Description: Specifies exact number of occurrences
Example: a{2,4}
Grouping ( )
Symbol: ( )
Description: Groups expressions and captures
Example: (abc)+ matches "abcabc"
Alternation |
Symbol: |
Description: Matches either/or expression
Example: cat|dog matches 'cat' or 'dog'
Word Characters
Symbol: \w
Description: Matches letters, digits, underscore
Example: [a-zA-Z0-9_]
Non-Word Characters
Symbol: \W
Description: Matches non-word characters
Example: [^a-zA-Z0-9_]
Digits
Symbol: \d
Description: Matches digits
Example: [0-9]
Non-Digits
Symbol: \D
Description: Matches non-digits
Example: [^0-9]
Whitespace
Symbol: \s
Description: Matches spaces, tabs, newlines
Example: [ \t\n\r\f]
Non-Whitespace
Symbol: \S
Description: Matches any non-whitespace
Example: [^ \t\n\r\f]
Word Boundary
Symbol: \b
Description: Matches word boundary position
Example: \bword\b matches 'word'
Non-Word Boundary
Symbol: \B
Description: Matches non-boundary positions
Example: \Bion\B matches 'ion' in 'opinion'
Positive Lookahead
Symbol: (?=...)
Description: Matches if followed by pattern
Example: \d+(?=€)
Negative Lookahead
Symbol: (?!...)
Description: Matches if NOT followed
Example: \d+(?!€)
Positive Lookbehind
Symbol: (?<=...)
Description: Matches if preceded by pattern
Example: (?<=\$)\d+
Negative Lookbehind
Symbol: (?<!...)
Description: Matches if NOT preceded
Example: (?<!\$)\d+
Escape Sequences
Symbol Description
\n Newline
\t Tab
\r Carriage Return
\f Form Feed
\v Vertical Tab
\0 Null
\xHH Hexadecimal char
\uHHHH Unicode char
Flags and Modifiers
Flag Description
g Global - find all matches
i Case-insensitive
m Multiline (^ and $ match lines)
s Dot matches newlines
u Unicode support
x Extended syntax (ignore whitespace)
