The following provides a complete list and description of special characters that can be used in regular expressions.
Table 1.3: special characters in Regular Expressions:
Character \
Meaning: For characters, it usually indicates the literal meaning, indicating that the next character is a special character, \ is not interpreted.
For example, if/B/matches the character 'B' and adds a backslash \, that is,/\ B/, before B, the character becomes a special character, the line that matches a word.
Or:
For a few characters, it is generally described as special. It is pointed out that the subsequent characters are not special, but should be interpreted literally.
For example, * is a special character that matches any character (including 0 characters). For example,/a */indicates that it matches 0 or multiple a characters. To match the literal *, add a backslash before a. For example,/a \ */matches 'A *'.
Character ^
Meaning: The matched characters must be at the frontend.
For example,/^ A/does not match 'A' in "an A,", but matches 'A' in the top of "An '.
Character $
Meaning: similar to ^, it matches the last character.
For example,/t $/does not match 'T' in "eater", but matches 'T' in "eat '.
Character *
Meaning: match the first character of * 0 or n times.
For example,/bo */matches 'boooo' in "A ghost booooed" or 'B' in "A bird warbled", but does not match any character in "A goat grunted.
Character +
Meaning: match the character before the plus sign once or n times. It is equivalent to {1 ,}.
For example,/a +/matches all 'A' in "candy" and "caaaaaaandy '.
Character?
Meaning: match? The first character is 0 or 1 time.
Example:/e? Le? /Match 'El' in "angel" and 'le' in "angle '.
Character.
Meaning: (decimal point) match all single characters except line breaks.
For example,/. n/matches 'any' and 'on' in "nay, an apple is on the tree", but does not match 'nay '.
Character (x)
Meaning: Match 'X' and record the matched value.
For example,/(foo)/matches and records 'foo' in "foo bar '. The matched substring can be returned by the element [1],..., [n] In the result array, or by the RegExp object attribute $1,..., $9.
Character x | y
Meaning: Match 'X' or 'y '.
For example,/green | red/matches 'green' in "green apple" and 'red' in "red apple '.
Character {n}
Meaning: Here n is a positive integer. Match the previous n characters.
For example:/a {2}/does not match 'A' in "candy,", but matches all 'A' and "caaandy" in "caandy. "The first two 'A '.
Character {n ,}
Meaning: Here n is a positive integer. Match at least n FIRST characters.
For example,/a {2,} does not match 'A' in "candy", but matches all 'A' in "caandy" and "caaaaaaandy'
Character {n, m}
Meaning: both n and m are positive integers. Match at least n characters at most before m.
For example,/a {}/does not match any character in "cndy", but matches 'A', "caandy, the first two 'A' and the first three 'A' in "caaaaaaandy". Note: even if there are many 'A' in "caaaaaaandy", it only matches the first three.
(Aaa ".
Character [xyz]
Meaning: A one-character list that matches any character in the list. You can use a hyphen to indicate a character range.
For example, [abcd] is the same as [a-c. They match 'B' in "brisket" and 'C' in "ache '.
Character [^ xyz]
Meaning: A character complement, that is, it matches everything except the listed characters. You can use a hyphen to indicate the one-character range.
For example, [^ abc] is equivalent to [^ a-c]. They first match 'R' in "brisket" and 'H' in "chop '.
Character [\ B]
Meaning: match a space (do not confuse with \ B)
Character \ B
Meaning: match the boundary of a word, such as a space (do not confuse it with [\ B)
For example,/\ bn \ w/matches 'no' in "noonday",/\ wy \ B/matches 'ly 'in "possibly yesterday '.
Character \ B
Meaning: match the non-dividing line of a word
For example,/\ w \ Bn/matches 'on' in "noonday",/y \ B \ w/matches 'Ye 'in "possibly yesterday '.
Character \ cX
Meaning: X is a control character. Matches the control character of a string.
For example,/\ cM/matches the control-M in a string.
Character \ d
Meaning: matching a number is equivalent to [0-9].
For example,/\ d/or/[0-9]/matches '2' in "B2 is the suite number '.
Character \ D
Meaning: match any non-number, which is equivalent to [^ 0-9].
For example,/\ D/or/[^ 0-9]/matches 'B' in "B2 is the suite number '.
Character \ f
Meaning: match a form character
Character \ n
Meaning: match a linefeed.
Character \ r
Meaning: match a carriage return.
Character \ s
Meaning: match a single white space character, including space, tab, form feed, line feed, equivalent to [\ f \ n \ r \ t \ v].
For example,/\ s \ w */matches 'bar' in "foo bar '.
Character \ S
Meaning: match a single character except the white space character, which is equivalent to [^ \ f \ n \ r \ t \ v].
For example,/\ S/\ w * matches 'foo' in "foo bar '.
Character \ t
Meaning: match a tab
Character \ v
Meaning: match a top Tab
Character \ w
Meaning: match all numbers, letters, and underscores, equivalent to [A-Za-z0-9 _].
For example,/\ w/matches 'A' in "apple,", "$5.28,", "5", and "3D '.
Character \ W
Meaning: match other characters except numbers, letters, and underscores, equivalent to [^ A-Za-z0-9 _].
For example:/\ W/or/[^ $ A-Za-z0-9 _]/matches '%' in "50% '.
Character \ n
Meaning: Here n is a positive integer. Match the n value of the last substring of a regular expression (left parentheses ).
For example,/apple (,) \ sorange \ 1/matches 'apple, orange, cherry, peach. '. Here is a more complete example.
Note: If the number in the left parentheses is smaller than the number specified by \ n, \ n removes the octal escape of a row as the description.
Characters \ ooctal and \ xhex
Meaning: here \ ooctal is an escape value of octal, while \ xhex is a hexadecimal escape value, which allows ASCII code to be embedded in a regular expression.
Source: u/meil/archives/2007/323 .html