RegexPatterns

Realtime regex program in C#. Used to test regex expressions as this can become a very complicated topic. This regex program is made to show results while you type real-time to make it easier to understand how regex works. Below is some information on how the regex expression works. The regex class is from the namespace: System.Text.RegularExpressions.

Interface

For the most part, using the program is straight-forward. The top textbox takes in the regex expression while the bottom textbox takes in the data value. The IsMatch function is then used to compare the strings. The real-time checkpoint toggles the bottom between checking after each keypress or to standby and wait for the user to press enter or click confirm.

Special characters

Special characters in a regex are used to assign several different meanings to a pattern. Below are some of the main ones.

Characters	Description
^	Denotes the start, the word or pattern after this starts matching from the start of the input text
$	This sign is the opposite of ^. It is used for matching words from the end of the string.
.	A dot is used for matching a single character in the given string occurring once.
\n	A newline
\d	Lower case d is used to match a digit character and upper case D is used to match non-digit characters.
\s	Lower case s is used to match white spaces and upper case S is used to match non-white space.
\w	Lower case w is used to match alphanumeric/underscore characters and upper case W is used to match non-word characters.
[a-z]	Characters in range from the alphabet “a” to “z”.
[1-9]	Characters in range from the numbers “1” to “9”
[^1]	The character ^ denotes the negate character class. In this case, it would be characters that are not 1.
(A|B)	The | operator is used inside a round bracket for using an alternative pattern. In this case, A or B.

Quantifier Characters

Different from special characters, the quantifier characters are used to count or quantify the matching requirements. An example would be if you wanted a string to contain a number n times in a row (where n is any number).

Characters	Description
*	Used to match the preceding character.
+	Used to match one or more characters in a row.
{n}	Used to match the number of the preceding character defined by numeric inside curly braces.
{n,}	Used to make sure that it matches at least n times.
{n, m}	Matching from preceding character from n number of times to m number of times.
?	Makes preceding characters match as optional.

Methods

Very useful methods in the regex class. Some of these methods can be seen in my text editor program.

Method	Description
IsMatch(string text)	This method allows the user to provide a character sequence for matching a string.
IsMatch(string text, int position)	This method returns a Boolean value and takes two parameters. The string is a regex constructor that will match with the character sequence from the start position given by the integer parameter.
IsMatch(String text, String pattern)	Accepts two parameters and returns a Boolean value. The first parameter is the text in which the user needs to find a pattern and the next parameter provide the pattern which the user is searching in the given text.
Replace(String text, String replacementText)	Accepts two parameters and returns a string value. The first parameter is the character sequence or regex that you want to use for the match and the second parameter is the replacement string.
Split(string text)	Accepts string input as a parameter and returns an array containing substrings.

Regex Methods in Action

Examples of how some of the methods work.

string patternText = "Hello";
Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//IsMatch(string input)
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("Hello World")); //True

//IsMatch(string input, int index) - input string and the index from where the match has to start
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("Hello", 0)); //True

//IsMatch(string input, string pattern)
Console.WriteLine(Regex.IsMatch("Hello World", patternText)); //True

//Replace(string input, string replacement)
Console.WriteLine(reg.Replace("Hello World", "Replace")); //Replace World

//Split(string input, string pattern)
string[] arr = Regex.Split("Hello_World_Today", "_");
foreach(string subStr in arr)
{
    Console.Write(subStr + " "); //Hello World Today
}

Pattern Example

The pattern below specifies that we want a word consisting of any letters and it has to be 6 characters long.

string patternText = @"^[a-zA-Z]{6}$";
Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//When pattern matches
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("active")); //True

//When pattern doesnt match
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("aced")); //False

This is another example. In this pattern we want the string to start with "hello" and has a space after it.

string patternText = @"^Hello\s";
Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//When pattern matches
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("Hello world")); //True

Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("Well, Hello to you too")); //False

//When pattern doesnt match
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("HelloWorld")); //False

Below is an example of wanting a string with a specific ending extension. The "\w" denotes we will accept any character (alphanumeric and special characters) while the "+" means that we will allow for the "\w" condition can repeat 1 or more times.

string patternText = @"(\w+)\.(jpg|png|jpeg|gif)$";

Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//When pattern matches, All True
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("abc.jpg"));
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("abcd.gif"));
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("abcde.png"));

//When pattern doesnt match, All false
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch(".jpg"));
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("ask.jpegj"));

Below is an example of of a website pattern.

string patternText = @"^www.[a-zA-Z0-9]{3,20}.(com|in|org|co\.in|net|dev)$";

Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//When pattern matches, true
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("www.yahoo.com"));

//When pattern doesnt match, false
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("ww.bgerg40j.movie"));

Below is an example of a email pattern.

string patternText = @"^[a-zA-Z0-9\._-]{5,25}.@.[a-z]{2,12}.(com|org|co\.in|net)$";
 
Regex reg = new Regex(patternText);

//When pattern matches, true
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("myName@gmail.com"));
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("personal.Mail@yahoo.co.in"));

//When pattern doesnt match, false
Console.WriteLine(reg.IsMatch("ww.htr23d.su@b.dot"));

Simple Patterns

• One character only between a to g.
  • ^[a-g]$
• One to there characters between a to g.
  • ^[a-g]{1,3}$
• A string consisting of 8 numbers
  • ^[0-9]{8}$