MChar

Definition

Pattern

Sample Matches

^

Start of a string.

^abc

abc, abcdefg, abc123, ...

$

End of a string.

abc$

abc, endsinabc, 123abc, ...

.

Any character (except \n newline).

a.c

abc, aac, acc, adc, aec, ...

|

Alternation.

bill|ted

ted, bill

{...}

Explicit quantifier notation.

ab{2}c

abbc

[...]

Explicit set of characters to match.

a[bB]c

abc, aBc

(...)

Logical grouping of part of an expression.

(abc)
{2}

abcabc

*

0 or more of previous expressions.

ab*c

ac, abc, abbc, abbbc, ...

+

1 or more of previous expressions.

ab+c

abc, abbc, abbbc, ...

?

0 or 1 of previous expressions; also forces minimal matching when an expression might match several strings within a search string.

ab?c

ac, abc

\

Preceding one of the above, it makes it a literal instead of a special character. Preceding a special matching character, see below.

a\sc

a c