A regular expression, or regexp for short, is a pattern that denotes a (possibly infinite) set of strings. Searching for matches for a regexp is a very powerful operation. This section explains how to write regexps; the following section says how to search for them.
For interactive development of regular expressions, you can use the
M-x re-builder command. It provides a convenient interface for creating regular expressions, by giving immediate visual feedback in a separate buffer. As you edit the regexp, all its matches in the target buffer are highlighted. Each parenthesized sub-expression of the regexp is shown in a distinct face, which makes it easier to verify even very complex regexps.
|• Syntax of Regexps||Rules for writing regular expressions.|
|• Regexp Example||Illustrates regular expression syntax.|
|• Rx Notation||An alternative, structured regexp notation.|
|• Regexp Functions||Functions for operating on regular expressions.|