More patterns

Multiple patterns

In addition to single characters and strings, the following notation can be used to choose multiple patterns or to specify a digit or a space:

• (a|b) for either string a or string b
• [a3] for any of the characters in the brackets
• [3-5] for any character in the range
• \d any digit
• \s white space

The notation can also be used in combination, such as in the following example patterns:

• \d\s for a digit followed by a space
• Hi(s|t) for either His or Hit
• ([3-5]|[7-9]) for any of 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, or 9

Make sure not to add extra blanks or any other extra symbols.

Position and repetition

It is also possible to use a pattern to indicate where the match should take place in a word and how many times the pattern should be repeated.

• \b match at beginning (if placed before) or ending (if placed after) of a word
• + means at least one of what comes before
• * means zero or more of what comes before
• ? means zero or one of what comes before

Here are some examples:

• \bth for th at the beginning of a word
• th\b for th at the end of a word
• a* for zero or more a's
• he+ for h followed by at least one e
• (he)+ for at least one he

Again, these can be used in combination with other notation for patterns.