Special Characters
2 min read ·
Special characters in regular expressions have specific meanings and allow powerful pattern matching.
Dot .
The dot matches any single character except newline.
Matches:
- cat
Caret ^
The caret matches the start of the string.
Dollar $
The dollar symbol matches the end of the string.
Star *
Matches zero or more occurrences of previous character.
Matches:
- col
- cool
- coool
Plus +
Matches one or more occurrences of previous character.
Matches:
- cool
- coool
Question Mark ?
Matches zero or one occurrence of previous character.
Matches:
- color
- colour
Note
Special characters change the meaning of patterns and are not treated as normal text.
Combining Special Characters
Matches:
- cat
Pro Tip
Understanding special characters is key to writing powerful regex patterns.
Caution
Incorrect use of special characters can lead to unexpected matches.
Exercise
- Match words ending with "ing"
- Match words starting with "P"
- Find patterns using . wildcard
- Try *, +, ? with different words