Pattern Matching metacharacter Definitions
Char. Definition
\ Use before any of the following characters to escape or null the meaning or it. \* \. \$ \+ \[ \]
^ Start matching at this point
$ End point of the match
. Any character
[] Starts a class
| Starts alternative match this|that would mean match this or that
() starts a back reference point
? match 0 or 1 time Quantifier
+ match atleast 1 or more times Quantifier
* match 0 to infinite times Quantifier
{} match minimum to maximum Quantifier {0,3} match up to 3 times
Class Definitions []
Char. Definition
^ Negates the class. [^A-Z]+ means don't match any uppercases
\ Use before any of the following characters to escape or null the meaning or it. [\+]+
- Range for matching [0-9]+ [a-zA-Z]+