RegEx is a sequence of characters that defines a search pattern. It is a powerful tool used for matching and manipulating strings based on specific patterns or rules.
Regular Expression often abbreviated as regex or regexp, is a sequence of characters that defines a search pattern. It is a powerful tool used for matching and manipulating strings based on specific patterns or rules.
In regular expressions, each character is treated as either a literal character or a metacharacter with a special meaning. Metacharacters enable you to define complex patterns and perform advanced string manipulation.
Regular expressions provide a concise and flexible way to perform tasks such as pattern matching, string validation, text extraction, and text substitution. They are widely used in programming languages, text editors, and command-line tools to perform complex string operations efficiently.
It's worth noting that regular expressions can vary slightly in syntax and features across different programming languages and tools. However, the fundamental concepts and most common metacharacters remain consistent. Here are a few commonly used metacharacters and their meanings:
.(dot): Matches any single character except a newline.*(asterisk): Matches zero or more occurrences of the preceding element.+(plus): Matches one or more occurrences of the preceding element.?(question mark): Matches zero or one occurrence of the preceding element.[](square brackets): Defines a character class, matches any single character within the brackets.()(parentheses): Groups elements together and captures the matched text for future reference.\(backslash): Escapes a metacharacter to be treated as a literal character.