View Category
Regex
Matching

Check if a string matches a regular expression

Display "ok" if "Hello" matches /[A-Z][a-z]+/
java
if ("Hello".matches("[A-Z][a-z]+")) {
System.out.println("ok");
}
cpp
if ((gcnew Regex("[A-Z][a-z]+"))->IsMatch("Hello")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
if (Regex::IsMatch("Hello", "[A-Z][a-z]+")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
Regex^ rx = gcnew Regex("[A-Z][a-z]+");
if (rx->IsMatch("Hello")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
cmatch what;
if (regex_match("Hello", what, regex("[A-Z][a-z]+")))
cout << "ok" << endl;
csharp
if (Regex.IsMatch("Hello", "[A-Z][a-z]+"))
{
Console.WriteLine("ok");
}
groovy
if ("Hello" =~ /[A-Z][a-z]+/) println 'ok'
if ("Hello".find(/[A-Z][a-z]+/)) println 'ok'
// with precompiled regex
def regex = ~/[A-Z][a-z]+/
if ("Hello".find(regex)) println 'ok'
// with precompiled regex
def regex = ~/[A-Z][a-z]+/
if ("Hello".matches(regex)) println 'ok'
if ("Hello".matches("[A-Z][a-z]+")) println 'ok'

Check if a string matches with groups

Display "two" if "one two three" matches /one (.*) three/
java
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("one (.*) three");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher("one two three");
if (matcher.matches()) {
System.out.println(matcher.group(1));
}
cpp
Match^ match = Regex::Match("one two three", "one (.*) three");
if (match->Success) Console::WriteLine("{0}", match->Groups[1]->Captures[0]);
cmatch what;
if (regex_match("one two three", what, regex("one (.*) three")))
cout << what[1] << endl;
csharp
using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public class RegexBackReference {
public static void Main() {
var oneTwoThree = "one two three";
var pattern = "one (.*) three";

Match match = Regex.Match(oneTwoThree, pattern);

// group 0 is the entire match. 1 is the first backreference
Console.WriteLine(match.Groups[1]);
}
}
groovy
matcher = ("one two three" =~ /one (.*) three/)
if (matcher) println matcher[0][1]
match = "one two three".find("one (.*) three") { it[1] }
if (match) println match
Searching

Check if a string contains a match to a regular expression

Display "ok" if "abc 123 @#$" matches /\d+/
java
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\d+");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
if (matcher.find()) {
System.out.println("ok");
}
cpp
if (Regex::IsMatch("abc 123 @#$", "\\d+")) Console::WriteLine("ok");
csharp
if(System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.IsMatch("abc 123 @#$",@"\d+")){
Console.WriteLine("ok");
}
groovy
if ('abc 123 @#$' =~ /\d+/) println 'ok'
if ('abc 123 @#$'.find(/\d+/)) println 'ok'

Loop through a string matching a regex and performing an action for each match

Create a list [fish1,cow3,boat4] when matching "(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4" with regex /\((\w+)\):(\d+)/
java
List list = new ArrayList();
Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)");
Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(text);
while(matcher.find()) {
list.add(matcher.group(1)+matcher.group(2));
}
cpp
Match^ match = Regex::Match("(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4", "\\((\\w+)\\):(\\d+)");

while (match->Success)
{
list->Add(match->Groups[1]->Captures[0]->ToString() + match->Groups[2]->Captures[0]->ToString());
match = match->NextMatch();
}
csharp
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public static class extensions {
public static IList<string> Map(this string me, string pattern, Func<Match, string> action){
IList<string> matches = new List<string>();
foreach (Match match in Regex.Matches(me,pattern)){
matches.Add(action(match));
}
return matches;
}
}

class Test
{
static void Main()
{
IList<string> list = "(fish):1 sausage (cow):3 tree (boat):4".Map(@"\((\w+)\):(\d+)", (m) => {return m.Groups[1].Value + m.Groups[2].Value;});
}
}
groovy
list = (text =~ /\((\w+)\):(\d+)/).collect{ it[1] + it[2] }
list = []
text.eachMatch(/\((\w+)\):(\d+)/){
list << it[1] + it[2]
}
list = []
text.eachMatch(/\((\w+)\):(\d+)/){ m, name, number ->
list << "$name$number"
}
list = (text =~ /\((\w+)\):(\d+)/).collect{ all, name, num -> "$name$num" }
list = text.findAll(regex){ _, name, num -> "$name$num" }
list = text.findAll(regex){ it[1] + it[2] }
Replacing

Replace the first regex match in a string with a static string

Transform "Red Green Blue" into "R*d Green Blue" by replacing /e/ with "*"
java
String replaced = "Red Green Blue".replaceFirst("e", "*");
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("e"))->Replace("Red Green Blue", "*", 1);
groovy
replaced = "Red Green Blue".replaceFirst("e", "*")

Replace all regex matches in a string with a static string

Transform "She sells sea shells" into "She X X shells" by replacing /se\w+/ with "X"
java
String replaced = text.replaceAll("se\\w+", "X");
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("se\\w+"))->Replace("She sells sea shells", "X");
String^ Replaced = Regex::Replace("She sells sea shells", "se\\w+", "X");
csharp
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

class SolutionXX
{
static void Main()
{
string text = "She sells sea shells";
string result = Regex.Replace(text, @"se\w+", "X");
}
}
groovy
replaced = text.replaceAll(/se\w+/,"X")

Replace all regex matches in a string with a dynamic string

Transform "The {Quick} Brown {Fox}" into "The kciuQ Brown xoF" by reversing words in braces using the regex /\{(\w+)\}/.
java
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("\\{(\\w+)\\}").matcher("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}");
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(32), rsb = new StringBuffer(8);

while (m.find())
{
rsb.replace(0, rsb.length(), m.group(1)); rsb.reverse(); m.appendReplacement(sb, rsb.toString());
}
m.appendTail(sb);
cpp
String^ Replaced = (gcnew Regex("{(\\w+)}"))->Replace("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}", gcnew MatchEvaluator(&RegRep::RepGroup));
String^ Replaced = Regex::Replace("The {Quick} Brown {Fox}", "{(\\w+)}", gcnew MatchEvaluator(&RegRep::RepGroup));
groovy
replaced = "The {Quick} Brown {Fox}".replaceAll(/\{(\w+)\}/, { full, word -> word.reverse() } )