FreeDev Tools

Regex Tester

Live regular expression tester with match highlighting, group capture, and flag controls.

Flags:

Frequently Asked Questions

What are regex flags? +

Flags modify how the regex engine searches. g finds all matches instead of just the first. i makes matching case-insensitive. m makes ^ and $ match the start/end of each line rather than the whole string.

What are capture groups? +

Capture groups are defined with parentheses (). They let you extract specific sub-parts of a match. For example, (w+)s(w+) captures two words separately from a two-word match.

Why does my regex not match? +

Common reasons: missing the g flag when expecting multiple matches, incorrect escaping of special characters, or case mismatch without the i flag. Check the error message shown if the pattern is invalid.

Is my data sent to a server? +

No. All regex testing runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript's built-in RegExp engine. Nothing is transmitted to any server.

Frequently Asked Questions

JavaScript regular expressions (ECMAScript). This covers the vast majority of regex syntax including lookaheads, backreferences, and named capture groups.