Character
|
Description
|
\
|
Marks
the next character as a special character, a literal, a backreference, or
an octal escape. For example, 'n' matches the character "n". '\n' matches
a newline character. The sequence '\\' matches "\" and "\(" matches "(".
|
^
|
Matches the position at the beginning of the input string. If the RegExp object's Multiline property is set, ^ also matches the position following '\n' or '\r'.
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$
|
Matches the position at the end of the input string. If the RegExp object's Multiline property is set, $ also matches the position preceding '\n' or '\r'.
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*
|
Matches
the preceding character or subexpression zero or more times. For example,
zo* matches "z" and "zoo". * is equivalent to {0,}.
|
+
|
Matches
the preceding character or subexpression one or more times. For example,
'zo+' matches "zo" and "zoo", but not "z". + is
equivalent to {1,}.
|
?
|
Matches
the preceding character or subexpression zero or one time. For example, "do(es)?"
matches the "do" in "do" or "does". ? is equivalent to {0,1}
|
{n}
|
n
is a nonnegative integer. Matches exactly n times. For example, 'o{2}' does
not match the 'o' in "Bob," but matches the two o's in "food".
|
{n,}
|
n
is a nonnegative integer. Matches at least n times. For example, 'o{2,}'
does not match the "o" in "Bob" and matches all the o's in "foooood".
'o{1,}' is equivalent to 'o+'. 'o{0,}' is equivalent to 'o*'.
|
{n,m}
|
m
and n are nonnegative integers, where n <= m. Matches at least n and at
most m times. For example, "o{1,3}" matches
the first three o's in "fooooood". 'o{0,1}' is equivalent to 'o?'. Note
that you cannot put a space between the comma and the numbers.
|
?
|
When
this character immediately follows any of the other quantifiers (*, +, ?,
{n}, {n,}, {n,m}), the matching pattern is non-greedy. A non-greedy pattern
matches as little of the searched string as possible, whereas the default
greedy pattern matches as much of the searched string as possible. For example,
in the string "oooo", 'o+?' matches a single "o", while 'o+'
matches all 'o's.
|
.
|
Matches
any single character except "\n". To match any character including the
'\n', use a pattern such as '[\s\S].
|
(pattern)
|
Matches pattern and captures the match. The captured match can be retrieved from the resulting Matches collection, using the SubMatches collection in VBScript or the $0$9 properties in JScript. To match parentheses characters ( ), use '\(' or '\)'.
|
(?:pattern)
|
Matches
pattern but does not capture the match, that is, it is a non-capturing match
that is not stored for possible later use. This is useful for combining parts
of a pattern with the "or" character (|). For example, 'industr(?:y|ies)
is a more economical expression than 'industry|industries'.
|
(?=pattern)
|
Positive
lookahead matches the search string at any point where a string matching
pattern begins. This is a non-capturing match, that is, the match is not
captured for possible later use. For example 'Windows (?=95|98|NT|2000)'
matches "Windows" in "Windows 2000" but
not "Windows" in "Windows 3.1". Lookaheads do not consume
characters, that is, after a match occurs, the search for the next match
begins immediately following the last match, not after the characters that
comprised the lookahead.
|
(?!pattern)
|
Negative
lookahead matches the search string at any point where a string not matching
pattern begins. This is a non-capturing match, that is, the match is not
captured for possible later use. For example 'Windows (?!95|98|NT|2000)'
matches "Windows" in "Windows 3.1" but
does not match "Windows" in "Windows 2000". Lookaheads do
not consume characters, that is, after a match occurs, the search for the
next match begins immediately following the last match, not after the characters
that comprised the lookahead.
|
x|y
|
Matches
either x or y. For example, 'z|food' matches "z" or "food".
'(z|f)ood' matches "zood" or "food".
|
[xyz]
|
A
character set. Matches any one of the enclosed characters. For example, '[abc]'
matches the 'a' in "plain".
|
[^xyz]
|
A
negative character set. Matches any character not enclosed. For example,
'[^abc]' matches the 'p' in "plain".
|
[a-z]
|
A range of characters. Matches any character in the specified range. For example, '[a-z]' matches any lowercase alphabetic character in the range 'a' through 'z'.
|
[^a-z]
|
A negative range characters. Matches any character not in the specified range. For example, '[^a-z]' matches any character not in the range 'a' through 'z'.
|
\b
|
Matches
a word boundary, that is, the position between a word and a space. For example,
'er\b' matches the 'er' in "never" but not the 'er' in "verb".
|
\B
|
Matches
a nonword boundary. 'er\B' matches the 'er' in "verb" but not the 'er'
in "never".
|
\cx
|
Matches the control character indicated by x. For example, \cM matches a Control-M or carriage return character. The value of x must be in the range of A-Z or a-z. If not, c is assumed to be a literal 'c' character.
|
\d
|
Matches a digit character. Equivalent to [0-9].
|
\D
|
Matches a nondigit character. Equivalent to [^0-9].
|
\f
|
Matches a form-feed character. Equivalent to \x0c and \cL.
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\n
|
Matches a newline character. Equivalent to \x0a and \cJ.
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\r
|
Matches a carriage return character. Equivalent to \x0d and \cM.
|
\s
|
Matches
any white space character including space, tab, form-feed, and so on. Equivalent
to [ \f\n\r\t\v].
|
\S
|
Matches
any non-white space character. Equivalent to [^ \f\n\r\t\v].
|
\t
|
Matches a tab character. Equivalent to \x09 and \cI.
|
\v
|
Matches a vertical tab character. Equivalent to \x0b and \cK.
|
\w
|
Matches any word character including underscore. Equivalent to '[A-Za-z0-9_]'.
|
\W
|
Matches any nonword character. Equivalent to '[^A-Za-z0-9_]'.
|
\xn
|
Matches
n, where n is a hexadecimal escape value. Hexadecimal escape values must
be exactly two digits long. For example, '\x41' matches "A". '\x041'
is equivalent to '\x04' & "1". Allows ASCII codes to be used in
regular expressions.
|
\num
|
Matches num, where num is a positive integer. A reference back to captured matches. For example, '(.)\1' matches two consecutive identical characters.
|
\n
|
Identifies either an octal escape value or a backreference. If \n is preceded by at least n captured subexpressions, n is a backreference. Otherwise, n is an octal escape value if n is an octal digit (0-7).
|
\nm
|
Identifies either an octal escape value or a backreference. If \nm is preceded by at least nm captured subexpressions, nm is a backreference. If \nm is preceded by at least n captures, n is a backreference followed by literal m. If neither of the preceding conditions exist, \nm matches octal escape value nm when n and m are octal digits (0-7).
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\nml
|
Matches octal escape value nml when n is an octal digit (0-3) and m and l are octal digits (0-7).
|
\un
|
Matches
n, where n is a Unicode character expressed as four hexadecimal digits. For
example, \u00A9 matches the copyright symbol (©).
|
