Python Regex Playground

Test Python regular expressions with live preview and explanations

Character Classes

\dAny digit (0-9)\d+ matches "42" in "Room 42"

\wWord character (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)\w+ matches words

\sWhitespace (space, tab, newline)a\sb matches "a b"

.Any character except newlinec.t matches "cat", "cot"

[abc]Any of a, b, or c[aeiou] matches vowels

[^abc]NOT a, b, or c[^0-9] matches non-digits

[a-z]Any lowercase letter[A-Za-z] matches letters

*0 or moreab* matches "a", "ab", "abbb"

+1 or moreab+ matches "ab", "abbb" but not "a"

?0 or 1 (optional)colou?r matches "color", "colour"

{n}Exactly n times\d{4} matches "2024"

{n,m}Between n and m times\d{2,4} matches "99", "999"

{n,}n or more times\d{3,} matches 3+ digits

^Start of string^Hello matches "Hello World"

$End of stringworld$ matches "Hello world"

\bWord boundary\bcat\b matches "cat" not "cats"

(abc)Capture group(\d+)-(\d+) captures both numbers

(?:abc)Non-capturing group(?:Mr|Ms)\.\s\w+

a|ba OR bcat|dog matches either

re.findall() - Find ALL matches, return list

re.search() - Find FIRST match anywhere

re.match() - Match at START of string only

re.sub() - Replace all matches