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Regular expressions (RegEx)

Introduction

Regular expressions are a handy way to specify patterns of text.

With regular expressions you can validate user input, search for some patterns like emails of phone numbers on web pages or in some documents and so on.

Below is the complete regular expressions cheat sheet.

Characters

Simple matches

Any single character (except special regex characters) matches itself. A series of (not special) characters matches that series of characters in the input string.

RegEx	Matches
foobar	foobar

Non-Printable Characters (escape-codes)

To specify character by its Unicode code, use the prefix \x followed by the hex code. For 3-4 digits code (after U+00FF), enclose the code into braces.

RegEx	Matches
\xAB	character with 2-digit hex code AB
\x{AB20}	character with 1..4-digit hex code AB20
foo\x20bar	foo bar (note space in the middle)

There are a number of predefined escape-codes for non-printable characters, like in C language:

RegEx	Matches
\t	tab (HT/TAB), same as \x09
\n	line feed (LF), same as \x0a
\r	carriage return (CR), same as \x0d
\f	form feed (FF), same as \x0c
\a	alarm (BEL), same as \x07
\e	escape (ESC), same as \x1b
\cA … \cZ	chr(0) to chr(25). For example, \cI matches the tab-char. Lower-case letters “a”…”z” are also supported.

Escaping

To represent special regex character (one of .+*?|\()[]{}^$), prefix it with a backslash \. The literal backslash must be escaped too.

RegEx	Matches
\^FooBarPtr	^FooBarPtr, this is ^ and not start of line
\[a\]	[a], this is not character class

Character Classes

User Character Classes

Character class is a list of characters inside square brackets []. The class matches any single character listed in this class.

RegEx	Matches
foob[aeiou]r	foobar, foober etc but not foobbr, foobcr etc

You can “invert” the class - if the first character after the [ is ^, then the class matches any character except the characters listed in the class.

RegEx	Matches
foob[^aeiou]r	foobbr, foobcr etc but not foobar, foober etc

Within a list, the dash - character is used to specify a range, so that a-z represents all characters between a and z, inclusive.

If you want the dash - itself to be a member of a class, put it at the start or end of the list, or escape it with a backslash.

If you want ] as part of the class you may place it at the start of list or escape it with a backslash.

RegEx	Matches
[-az]	a, z and -
[az-]	a, z and -
[a\-z]	a, z and -
[a-z]	characters from a to z
[\n-\x0D]	characters from chr(10) to chr(13)

Meta-Classes

There are a number of predefined character classes that keeps regular expressions more compact, “meta-classes”:

RegEx	Matches
\w	an alphanumeric character, including _
\W	a non-alphanumeric
\d	a numeric character (same as [0-9])
\D	a non-numeric
\s	any space (same as [ \t\n\r\f])
\S	a non-space
\h	horizontal whitespace: the tab and all characters in the “space separator” Unicode category
\H	not a horizontal whitespace
\v	vertical whitespace: all characters treated as line-breaks in the Unicode standard
\V	not a vertical whitespace

You may use all meta-classes, mentioned in the table above, within user character classes.

RegEx	Matches
foob\dr	foob1r, foob6r and so on, but not foobar, foobbr and so on
foob[\w\s]r	foobar, foob r, foobbr and so on, but not foob1r, foob=r and so on

Note

TRegExpr

Properties SpaceChars and WordChars define character classes \w, \W, \s, \S.

So you can redefine these classes.

Boundaries

Line Boundaries

Meta-char	Matches
.	any character, can include line-breaks
^	zero-length match at start of line
$	zero-length match at end of line
\A	zero-length match at the very beginning
\z	zero-length match at the very end
\Z	like \z but also matches before the final line-break

Examples:

RegEx	Matches
^foobar	foobar only if it’s at the beginning of line
foobar$	foobar only if it’s at the end of line
^foobar$	foobar only if it’s the only string in line
foob.r	foobar, foobbr, foob1r and so on

Meta-char ^ matches zero-length position at the beginning of the input string. $ - at the ending. If modifier /m is on, they also match at the beginning/ending of individual lines in the multi-line text.

Note that there is no empty line within the sequence \x0D\x0A.

Note

TRegExpr

If you are using Unicode version, then ^/$ also matches \x2028, \x2029, \x0B, \x0C or \x85.

Meta-char \A matches zero-length position at the very beginning of the input string, \z - at the very ending. They ignore modifier /m. \Z is like \z but also matches before the final line-break (LF and CR LF). Behaviour of \A, \z, \Z is made like in most of major regex engines (Perl, PCRE, etc).

Meta-char . (dot) by default matches any character, but if you turn off the modifier /s, then it won’t match line-breaks inside the string.

Note that ^.*$ does not match a string between \x0D\x0A, because this is unbreakable line separator. But it matches the empty string within the sequence \x0A\x0D because this is 2 line-breaks in the wrong order.

Note

TRegExpr

Multi-line processing can be tuned by properties LineSeparators and UseLinePairedBreak.

So you can use Unix style separators \n or DOS/Windows style \r\n or mix them together (as in described above default behaviour).

If you prefer mathematically correct description you can find it on www.unicode.org.

Word Boundaries

RegEx	Matches
\b	a word boundary
\B	a non-word boundary

A word boundary \b is a spot between two characters that has a \w on one side of it and a \W on the other side of it (in either order).

Quantification

Quantifiers

Any item of a regular expression may be followed by quantifier. Quantifier specifies number of repetition of the item.

RegEx	Matches
{n}	exactly n times
{n,}	at least n times
{n,m}	at least n but not more than m times
*	zero or more, similar to {0,}
+	one or more, similar to {1,}
?	zero or one, similar to {0,1}

So, digits in curly brackets {n,m}, specify the minimum number of times to match n and the maximum m.

The {n} is equivalent to {n,n} and matches exactly n times. The {n,} matches n or more times.

There is no practical limit to the values n and m (limit is maximal signed 32-bit value).

RegEx	Matches
foob.*r	foobar,  foobalkjdflkj9r and foobr
foob.+r	foobar, foobalkjdflkj9r but not foobr
foob.?r	foobar, foobbr and foobr but not foobalkj9r
fooba{2}r	foobaar
fooba{2,}r	foobaar', foobaaar, foobaaaar etc.
fooba{2,3}r	foobaar, or foobaaar  but not foobaaaar
(foobar){8,10}	8…10 instances of foobar (() is group)

Greediness

Quantifiers in “greedy” mode takes as many as possible, in “lazy” mode - as few as possible.

By default all quantifiers are “greedy”. Append the character ? to make any quantifier “lazy”.

For string abbbbc:

RegEx	Matches
b+	bbbb
b+?	b
b*?	empty string
b{2,3}?	bb
b{2,3}	bbb

You can switch all quantifiers into “lazy” mode (modifier /g, below we use in-line modifier change).

RegEx	Matches
(?-g)b+	b

Possessive Quantifier

The syntax is: a++, a*+, a?+, a{2,4}+. Currently it’s supported only for simple braces, but not for braces after group like (foo|bar){3,5}+.

This regex feature is described here. In short, possessive quantifier speeds up matching in complex cases.

Choice

Expressions in the choice are separated by vertical bar |.

So fee|fie|foe will match any of fee, fie, or foe in the target string (as would f(e|i|o)e).

The first expression includes everything from the last pattern delimiter ((, [, or the beginning of the pattern) up to the first |, and the last expression contains everything from the last | to the next pattern delimiter.

Sounds a little complicated, so it’s common practice to include the choice in parentheses, to minimize confusion about where it starts and ends.

Expressions in the choice are tried from left to right, so the first expression that matches, is the one that is chosen.

For example, regular expression foo|foot in string barefoot will match foo. Just a first expression that matches.

Also remember that | is interpreted as a literal within square brackets, so if you write [fee|fie|foe] you’re really only matching [feio|].

RegEx	Matches
foo(bar|foo)	foobar or foofoo

Groups

The brackets () are used to define groups (ie subexpressions).

Note

TRegExpr

Group positions, lengths and actual values will be in MatchPos, MatchLen and Match.

You can substitute them with Substitute.

Groups are numbered from left to right by their opening parenthesis (including nested groups). First group has index 1. The entire regex has index 0.

For string foobar, the regex (foo(bar)) will find:

Group	Value
0	foobar
1	foobar
2	bar

Backreferences

Meta-chars \1 through \9 are interpreted as backreferences to groups. They match the previously found group with the specified index.

RegEx	Matches
(.)\1+	aaaa and cc
(.+)\1+	also abab and 123123

RegEx (['"]?)(\d+)\1 matches "13" (in double quotes), or '4' (in single quotes) or 77 (without quotes) etc.

Named Groups and Backreferences

To make some group named, use this syntax: (?P<name>expr). Also Perl syntax is supported: (?'name'expr).

Name of group must be valid identifier: first char is letter or “_”, other chars are alphanumeric or “_”. All named groups are also usual groups and share the same numbers 1 to 9.

Backreferences to named groups are (?P=name), the numbers \1 to \9 can also be used.

RegEx	Matches
(?P<qq>['"])\w+(?P=qq)	"word" and 'word'

Modifiers

Modifiers are for changing behaviour of regular expressions.

You can set modifiers globally in your system or change inside the regular expression using the (?imsxr-imsxr).

Note

TRegExpr

To change modifiers use ModifierStr or appropriate TRegExpr properties Modifier*.

The default values are defined in global variables. For example global variable RegExprModifierX defines default value for ModifierX property.

i, case-insensitive

Case-insensitive. Use installed in you system locale settings, see also InvertCase.

m, multi-line strings

Treat string as multiple lines. So ^ and $ matches the start or end of any line anywhere within the string.

See also Line Boundaries.

s, single line strings

Treat string as single line. So . matches any character whatsoever, even a line separators.

See also Line Boundaries, which it normally would not match.

g, greediness

Note

TRegExpr only modifier.

Switching it Off you’ll switch quantifiers into non-greedy mode.

So, if modifier /g is Off then + works as +?, * as *? and so on.

By default this modifier is On.

x, eXtended syntax

Allows to comment regular expression and break them up into multiple lines.

If the modifier is On we ignore all whitespaces that is neither backslashed nor within a character class.

And the # character separates comments.

Notice that you can use empty lines to format regular expression for better readability:

(
(abc) # comment 1
#
(efg) # comment 2
)

This also means that if you want real whitespace or # characters in the pattern (outside a character class, where they are unaffected by /x), you’ll either have to escape them or encode them using octal or hex escapes.

r, Russian ranges

Note

TRegExpr only modifier.

In Russian ASCII table characters ё/Ё are placed separately from others.

Big and small Russian characters are in separated ranges, this is the same as with English characters but nevertheless I wanted some short form.

With this modifier instead of [а-яА-ЯёЁ] you can write [а-Я] if you need all Russian characters.

When the modifier is On:

RegEx	Matches
а-я	chars from а to я and ё
А-Я	chars from А to Я and Ё
а-Я	all russian symbols

The modifier is set On by default.

Assertions

Positive lookahead assertion: foo(?=bar) matches “foo” only before “bar”, and “bar” is excluded from the match.

Negative lookahead assertion: foo(?!bar) matches “foo” only if it’s not followed by “bar”.

Positive lookbehind assertion: (?<=foo)bar matches “bar” only after “foo”, and “foo” is excluded from the match.

Negative lookbehind assertion: (?<!foo)bar matches “bar” only if it’s not prefixed with “foo”.

Limitations:

• Brackets for lookahead must be at the very ending of expression, and brackets for lookbehind must be at the very beginning. So assertions between choices |, or inside groups, are not supported.
• For lookbehind (?<!foo)bar, regex “foo” must be of fixed length, ie contains only operations of fixed length matches. Quantifiers are not allowed, except braces with the repeated numbers {n} or {n,n}. Char-classes are allowed here, dot is allowed, \b and \B are allowed. Groups and choices are not allowed.
• For other 3 assertion kinds, expression in brackets can be of any complexity.

Non-capturing Groups

Syntax is like this: (?:expr).

Such groups do not have the “index” and are invisible for backreferences. Non-capturing groups are used when you want to group a subexpression, but you do not want to save it as a matched/captured portion of the string. So this is just a way to organize your regex into subexpressions without overhead of capturing result:

RegEx	Matches
(https?|ftp)://([^/\r\n]+)	in https://sorokin.engineer matches https and sorokin.engineer
(?:https?|ftp)://([^/\r\n]+)	in https://sorokin.engineer matches only sorokin.engineer

Atomic Groups

Syntax is like this: (?>expr|expr|...).

Atomic groups are special case of non-capturing groups. Description of them.

Inline Modifiers

Syntax for one modifier: (?i) to turn on, and (?-i) to turn off. Many modifiers are allowed like this: (?msgxr-imsgxr).

You may use it inside regular expression for modifying modifiers on-the-fly. This can be especially handy because it has local scope in a regular expression. It affects only that part of regular expression that follows (?imsgxr-imsgxr) operator.

And if it’s inside group, it will affect only this group - specifically the part of the group that follows the modifiers. So in ((?i)Saint)-Petersburg it affects only group ((?i)Saint) so it will match saint-Petersburg but not saint-petersburg.

RegEx	Matches
(?i)Saint-Petersburg	Saint-petersburg and Saint-Petersburg
(?i)Saint-(?-i)Petersburg	Saint-Petersburg but not Saint-petersburg
(?i)(Saint-)?Petersburg	Saint-petersburg and saint-petersburg
((?i)Saint-)?Petersburg	saint-Petersburg, but not saint-petersburg

Comments

Syntax is like this: (?#text). Text inside brackets is ignored.

Note that the comment is closed by the nearest ), so there is no way to put a literal ) in the comment.

Recursion

Syntax is (?R), the alias is (?0).

The regex a(?R)?z matches one or more letters “a” followed by exactly the same number of letters “z”.

The main purpose of recursion is to match balanced constructs or nested constructs. The generic regex is b(?:m|(?R))*e where “b” is what begins the construct, “m” is what can occur in the middle of the construct, and “e” is what occurs at the end of the construct.

If what may appear in the middle of the balanced construct may also appear on its own without the beginning and ending parts then the generic regex is b(?R)*e|m.

Subroutine calls

Syntax for call to numbered groups: (?1) … (?90) (maximal index is limited by code).

Syntax for call to named groups: (?P>name). Also Perl syntax is supported: (?&name).

This is like recursion but calls only code of capturing group with specified index.

Unicode Categories

Unicode standard has names for character categories. These are 2-letter strings. For example “Lu” is uppercase letters, “Ll” is lowercase letters. And 1-letter bigger category “L” is all letters.

• Cc - Control
• Cf - Format
• Co - Private Use
• Cs - Surrrogate
• Ll - Lowercase Letter
• Lm - Modifier Letter
• Lo - Other Letter
• Lt - Titlecase Letter
• Lu - Uppercase Letter
• Mc - Spacing Mark
• Me - Enclosing Mark
• Mn - Nonspacing Mark
• Nd - Decimal Number
• Nl - Letter Number
• No - Other Number
• Pc - Connector Punctuation
• Pd - Dash Punctuation
• Pe - Close Punctuation
• Pf - Final Punctuation
• Pi - Initial Punctuation
• Po - Other Punctuation
• Ps - Open Punctuation
• Sc - Currency Symbol
• Sk - Modifier Symbol
• Sm - Math Symbol
• So - Other Symbol
• Zl - Line Separator
• Zp - Paragraph Separator
• Zs - Space Separator

Meta-character \p denotes one Unicode char of specified category. Syntaxes: \pL and \p{L} for 1-letter name, \p{Lu} for 2-letter names.

Meta-character \P is inverted, it denotes one Unicode char not in the specified category.

These meta-characters are supported withing character classes too.

Afterword

In this ancient blog post from previous century I illustrate some usages of regular expressions.