To create a regular expression, you must use specific syntax -- that is, special characters and construction rules. For example, the following is a simple regular expression that matches any 10-digit telephone number, in the pattern nnn-nnn-nnnn:
(\(\d{3}\)-\d{3}-\d{4})
The following are some common regex patterns that include anything from email to personal information. To help you, basic examples of how to use Regex Syntax are also supplied.
Common Regex Examples
Type |
Pattern |
Example |
|
|
johndoe@example.com | |
| Phone Number |
|
(562) 988-1688 (562) 9881688 |
| Last Name, First Name |
|
Smith, Paul |
|
ZIP Code |
|
90807 or 92064-3404 |
| Short Date |
|
12/25/2009 |
You make evaluate your regex using sites like regex101: build, test, and debug regex to determine whether it meets your specifications
Note: We always receive the 1st Capturing Group
The first capturing group is explained by the following examples:
Email regex
To capture the entire email, we'll just put the regex pattern in parentheses
ID with value
Here is an illustration of the first capturing group using the regex (?:ID?s*)([a-zA-Z0-9_]*), we want to enforce the ID match, but we simply want the value that follows the ID:
By adding (:?) we will skip the ID, making the initial expression (:?ID) then incorporate a second group that you may match, such as the ([a-zA-Z0-9_]*), which is signified by parenthesis ()
ID: 12 - Match
12 - Value that will be obtained
Phone number
Another example is the phone number (888)-111-3332, where we just need the last seven digits. The pattern, as you can see, includes two groups, separated by a parenthesis. We define the first group to be non-capturing and ignore its value.
111-3332 is what we'll get from this Regex pattern.
Regex Syntax
Syntax to help you create your regex pattern
Charaters |
Description |
| Anchors | |
| ^ |
(caret) Matched the start of the line or string of text that the regular expression is searching. For example, a content rule with a location Subject line and the following regular expression: ^abc Captures any email message that has a subject line beginning with the letters abc |
| $ |
(dollar) Matches the end of the line or string of text that the regular expression is searching. For example, a content rule with a location Subject line and the following regular expression: xyz$ Captures any email message that has a subject line ending with the letters xyz |
| Meta characters | |
| . | (dot) Matches any single character, except a new line |
| | |
(pipe) Indicates alternation -- that is, an "or" For example: cat|dog matches the word cat or dog |
| \ |
Indicates that the next character is a literal rather than a special character For example: \. matches a literal period, rather than any character (dot character) |
| Character Classes | |
| [...] |
Matches any character from a set of characters. Separate the first and last character in a set with a dash For example: [123] matches the digit 1, 2, or 3 [a-f] matches any letter from a to f Note: Regular expression in Content Compliance policies are case sensitive |
| [^...] |
Matches any characters not in the set of characters For example: [^a-f] matches any character that's not a letter from a to f Note: Regular expressions in Content Compliance policies are case sensitive |
| [:alnum:] |
Matches alphanumeric characters (letters to digits): a-z, A-Z, or 0-9 Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:alnum:]] |
| [:alpha:] |
Matches alphabetic (letters): a-z or A-Z Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:alpha:]] |
| [:digit:] |
Matches digits: 0-9 Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:digit:]] |
| [:graph:] |
Matches visible characters only—that is, any characters except spaces, control characters, and so on. Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:graph:]] |
| [:punct:] |
Matches punctuation characters and symbols: ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , \ -. / : ; < = > ? @ [ ] ^ _ ` { | } Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:punct:]] |
| [:print:] |
Matches visible characters and spaces. Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:print:]] |
| [:space:] |
Matches all whitespace characters, including spaces, tabs, and line breaks. Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:space:]] |
| [:word:] |
Matches any word character—that is, any letter, digit, or underscore: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, or _ Note: This character class must be surrounded with another set of square brackets when you use it in a regular expression, for example: [[:word:]] |
| Shorthand Character Classes | |
| \w |
Matches any word character—that is, any letter, digit, or underscore: a-z, A-Z, 0-9, or _ Equivalent to [:word:] |
| \W |
Matches any non-word character—that is, any character that’s not a letter, digit, or underscore. Equivalent to [^[:word:]] |
| \s |
Matches any whitespace character. For example, use this character to specify a space between words in a phrase: stock\stips matches the phrase stock tips Equivalent to [:space:] |
| \S |
Matches any character that’s not a whitespace. Equivalent to [^[:space:]] |
| \d |
Matches any digit from 0-9. Equivalent to [:digit:] |
| \D |
Matches any character that’s not a digit from 0-9. Equivalent to [^[:digit:]] |
|
Group |
|
| (...) | Groups parts of an expression. Use grouping to apply a quantifier to a group or to match a character class before or after a group |
| Quantifiers | |
| {n} |
Match the preceding expression exactly n times. For example: [a-c]{2} matches any letter from a to c only if two letters occur in a row. Thus, the expression would match ab and bc but not abc or aabbc |
| {n,m} |
Match the preceding expression a minimum of n times and a maximum of m times. For example: [a-c]{2,4} matches any letter from a to c only if the letters occur a minimum of 2 times and a maximum of 4 times in a row. Thus, the expression would match ab and abc but not aabbc |
| ? |
Indicates that the preceding character or expression can match 0 or 1 times. Equivalent to the range {0,1}. For example, the following regular expression: colou?r Matches either colour or color, because the ? makes the letter u optional |
List of references:
Google , Google Support website, accessed 12 October 2022, <Syntax for Regular Expressions - Google Workspace Admin Help >