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Regex explainer
Paste a regular expression and read it as plain English, piece by piece: each character class, group, quantifier and anchor gets its own line, indented the way the pattern nests. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
How to explain a regex in plain English
- 1Type or paste the pattern between the slashes
- 2Open the "Explain" view
- 3Read the pattern line by line
- A step-by-step reading of your pattern.
What you get
- One line per part.Every token is shown next to what it means.
- Nesting made visible.Lines inside a group are indented under it.
- Nothing is uploaded.The pattern is read by your browser, on your own device.
What you can do
- Explain character classes, groups, quantifiers, anchors and alternations in plain words.
- Take the flags into account, for example what ^ and $ mean with the multi-line flag, or what the dot matches with "Dot all".
- Indent the lines of a group under it, so you see which part belongs where.
- Test the same pattern on sample text in the Matches view, without retyping it.
- Report an invalid pattern with the error message of the browser.
Good to know
- The explanation follows the JavaScript regex flavour.
- The tool explains what the pattern says, not whether it is a good one. It does not warn about slow or risky patterns.
- A long run of plain letters is explained as the text itself, in one line.
- Check your reading on real text: the Matches view shows what the pattern really finds.
Questions
How do I read a regex I did not write?
Paste it into the pattern box and open "Explain". Each part of the pattern gets a line that says what it matches.
Can it explain lookaheads and named groups?
Yes. Both appear as their own lines, with the group's name where there is one.
Does it work for Python or PHP regexes?
It reads the JavaScript flavour. Basic patterns are the same everywhere, but features that differ between engines may be explained wrongly.
Is my pattern uploaded?
No. The explanation is made in your browser.