Quick reference
Special characters definitions
\ | Quotes the next meta character |
^ | Match the beginning of a line |
. | Match any character (except newline character) |
$ | Match the end of a line |
| | Alternation |
() | Group |
[] | Character class |
* | Match 0 or more times |
+ | Match 1 or more times |
? | Match 0 or 1 times |
{n} | Match exactly n times |
{n,} | Match at least n times |
{n,m} | Match at least n but no more than m times |
Character classes
[abc] | a, b, or c (simple class) |
[^abc] | Any character except a, b, or c (negation) |
[a-zA-Z] | a through z, or A through Z, inclusive (range) |
[a-d[m-p]] | a through d, or m through p: [a-dm-p] (union) |
[a-z&&[def]] | d, e, or f (intersection) |
[a-z&&[^bc]] | a through z, except b and c: [ad-z] (subtraction) |
[a-z&&[^m-p]] | a through z, but excluding m through p: [a-lq-z] (subtraction) |
Pre-defined character classes
. | Any character (except newline character) |
\d | A digit character: [0-9] |
\D | A non-digit character: [^0-9] |
\s | A whitespace character: [ \t\n\x0B\f\r] |
\S | A non-whitespace character: [^\s] |
\w | A word character: [a-zA-Z_0-9] |
\W | A non-word character: [^\w] |