Build, test and debug regular expressions live in your browser — instant match highlighting, capture groups, substitution preview, a plain-English explanation and ready-to-paste code for 15+ languages.

Runs entirely in your browser using the native JavaScript regex engine — nothing is uploaded. The generated code lets you take the same pattern to 15+ languages.

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The global (g) flag is recommended to replace every match.

Live testing uses the JavaScript engine. Some flavors (Go, Rust) do not support look-arounds or back-references.


About Regex Tester

The Regex Tester lets you build, test and debug regular expressions live: type a pattern, paste a test string, and matches are highlighted instantly with every capture group — numbered or named — listed with its exact index range. It runs entirely in your browser on the native JavaScript regex engine; nothing is uploaded.

Beyond matching, four extra tabs do the heavy lifting. Substitution previews a replacement with $1, $2 and $<name> group references. Explanation breaks the pattern down token by token in plain English. Code generates ready-to-paste snippets for 15+ languages, and Reference keeps character classes, anchors, quantifiers and look-arounds one click away.

Common patterns — email, URL, IPv4, IPv6, UUID, dates, slugs, hex colors and more — load as one-click presets, and all six flags (g, i, m, s, u, y) toggle from checkboxes. Invalid patterns are flagged immediately instead of failing silently, making this a practical regex tester online for daily work.

How to use Regex Tester

  1. Type your regular expression, or load one of the presets (email, URL, IPv4, UUID…).
  2. Toggle the flags you need — g for all matches, i for case-insensitive, m for multiline.
  3. Paste a test string and inspect the highlighted matches and capture groups.
  4. Use the Substitution tab to preview replacements, or Explanation for a token-by-token breakdown.
  5. Open the Code tab and copy the pattern as a working snippet in your language.

Frequently asked questions

The native JavaScript (ECMAScript) engine built into your browser. The generated code carries your pattern to other languages, but note that some flavors — Go and Rust, for example — do not support look-arounds or back-references.

No. Pattern matching, substitution, explanation and code generation all run client-side. Log excerpts or production strings you paste for testing never leave your browser.

Yes — fully free with no account, no limits and no server round-trips.

Every match lists its full text plus each capturing group — numbered or named — with the exact character range it spans. In the Substitution tab you reference them as $1, $2 or $<name>.

Without the g (global) flag, JavaScript replaces only the first match. Enable g in the flags row and the substitution preview will rewrite every occurrence.

Yes. Paste any pattern and the Explanation tab describes it token by token — character classes, quantifiers, groups, anchors and look-arounds — in plain English, which is the fastest way to audit an inherited expression.


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