| operator | description | sample pattern | matches | doesn't match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | any character but newline | . | e | \n |
| ^ | beginning of string | ^a | apple | banana |
| $ | end of string | a$ | banana | apple |
| [characters] | any characters in braces | [abcABC] | a | d |
| [char range] | describe range of characters | [a-zA-z] | r | 9 |
| \d | any digit | \d\d\d-\d\d\d\d | 123-4567 | the-thing |
| \b | word boundary | \bthe\b | the | theater |
| + | one or more occurrences of preceding character | \d+ | 1234 | text |
| * | zero or more occurrences of preceding character | [a-zA-z]\d* | f16, b | 9 |
| {digit} | repeat preceding character that many times | \d{3}-\d{4} | 123-4567 | 999-99-9999 |
| | | or operator | apple|banana | apple, banana | peach |
| (pattern segment) | store results in pattern memory returned with numeric code | (^.).*/1 | gig, blab (any word that starts and ends w/ same letter) |
any other word |