Compare How Different Applications Interpret a Regex

If you read the documentation about the regex features in various applications, you’d think they all interpret regular expressions “just like Perl” does. But that is nonsense. Even different versions of Perl interpret certain regular expressions differently as Perl’s developers fix bugs and add new features. Other regex libraries and programming languages evolve too. While most modern regex flavors have copied Perl’s syntax, there are many subtle differences in behavior.

Fortunately, RegexBuddy is aware of all these subtle differences in nearly all of the popular regular expression flavors. When creating or analyzing a regular expression, RegexBuddy explains exactly how your chosen application interprets each part of the regex. When testing your regex, RegexBuddy emulates the application’s behavior, so you’ll see exactly the same regex matches.

There are situations in which a regex needs to work with multiple regex flavors. A common situation is a regex used in a shared code library that needs to work with multiple versions of the same programming language. Use RegexBuddy’s ability to compare your regex between multiple regex flavors to make sure it works as intended with all of them.

The screen shot shows the comparison of a regular expression and replacement string between five different versions of Perl. It shows that unlike later versions, Perl 5.8 does not support named capture. It also shows that Perl 5.12 and prior had issues with applying the case insensitive flag to Unicode categories. Comparing your regex in RegexBuddy enables you to fix your regex immediately while you’re still creating it. Without RegexBuddy, you would likely remain unaware of such issues until you were testing your software and you would spend much more time to discover that the problem was caused by changes in Perl’s regex engine.

You can learn a new regex flavor easily by comparing your regexes between the flavor you know and the flavor you’re learning. You can compare between any number of all the applications that RegexBuddy can emulate, including custom applications.

RegexBuddy can accurately emulate the regex features of the following applications, programming languages, and regular expression libraries. If your application is not on the list, its regex support is likely developed using a programming language or library that is on this list. Ask your application’s technical support to tell you which version of which programming language or regex library it was built with.

1. AceText 2 & 3
2. AceText 4
3. ASP.NET 1.1
4. ASP.NET 2.0–4.8
5. boost::regex 1.38–1.39
6. boost::regex 1.42–1.43
7. boost::regex 1.44–1.46
8. boost::regex 1.47
9. boost::regex 1.48–1.49
10. boost::regex 1.50–1.53
11. boost::regex 1.54–1.57
12. boost::regex 1.58–1.59
13. boost::regex 1.60–1.61
14. boost::regex 1.62–1.63
15. boost::regex 1.64–1.65
16. boost::regex 1.66–1.77
17. boost::regex 1.78–1.85
18. boost::wregex 1.38–1.39
19. boost::wregex 1.42–1.43
20. boost::wregex 1.44–1.46
21. boost::wregex 1.47–1.53
22. boost::wregex 1.54–1.57
23. boost::wregex 1.58–1.59
24. boost::wregex 1.60–1.63
25. boost::wregex 1.64–1.65
26. boost::wregex 1.66–1.77
27. boost::wregex 1.78–1.85
28. C# (.NET 1.1)
29. C# (.NET 2.0–8.0)
30. C++Builder 10.2 (TPerlRegEx)
31. C++Builder 10.2 (TRegEx)
32. C++Builder 10.3–12 (TPerlRegEx)
33. C++Builder 10.3–12 (TRegEx)
34. C++Builder XE (TPerlRegEx)
35. C++Builder XE (TRegEx)
36. C++Builder XE2–XE3 (TPerlRegEx)
37. C++Builder XE2–XE3 (TRegEx)
38. C++Builder XE4–XE5 (TPerlRegEx)
39. C++Builder XE4–XE5 (TRegEx)
40. C++Builder XE6 (TPerlRegEx)
41. C++Builder XE6 (TRegEx)
42. C++Builder XE7–XE8 & 10–10.1 (TPerlRegEx)
43. C++Builder XE7–XE8 & 10–10.1 (TRegEx)
44. Delphi 10.2 (TPerlRegEx)
45. Delphi 10.2 (TRegEx)
46. Delphi 10.3–12 (TPerlRegEx)
47. Delphi 10.3–12 (TRegEx)
48. Delphi 2007 and prior (TPerlRegEx)
49. Delphi 2009–2010 (TPerlRegEx)
50. Delphi for .NET
51. Delphi Prism (.NET 1.1)
52. Delphi Prism (.NET 2.0–4.8)
53. Delphi XE (TPerlRegEx)
54. Delphi XE (TRegEx)
55. Delphi XE2–XE3 (TPerlRegEx)
56. Delphi XE2–XE3 (TRegEx)
57. Delphi XE4–XE5 (TPerlRegEx)
58. Delphi XE4–XE5 (TRegEx)
59. Delphi XE6 (TPerlRegEx)
60. Delphi XE6 (TRegEx)
61. Delphi XE7–XE8 & 10–10.1 (TPerlRegEx)
62. Delphi XE7–XE8 & 10–10.1 (TRegEx)
63. EditPad 5
64. EditPad 6 & 7
65. EditPad 8
66. GNU BRE
67. GNU ERE
68. Groovy (JDK 1.4)
69. Groovy (JDK 1.5)
70. Groovy (JDK 1.6)
71. Groovy (JDK 1.7)
72. Groovy (JDK 1.8)
73. Groovy (JDK 9–12)
74. Groovy (JDK 13–14)
75. Groovy (JDK 15)
76. Groovy (JDK 16)
77. Groovy (JDK 17–18)
78. Groovy (JDK 19–22)
79. HTML5 Pattern (Chrome)
80. HTML5 Pattern (Edge)
81. HTML5 Pattern (Firefox)
82. HTML5 Pattern (MSIE standard)
83. HTML5 Pattern (Opera)
84. Java 4
85. Java 5
86. Java 6
87. Java 7
88. Java 8
89. Java 9–12
90. Java 13–14
91. Java 15
92. Java 16
93. Java 17–18
94. Java 19–22
95. JavaScript (Chrome)
96. JavaScript (Edge)
97. JavaScript (Firefox)
98. JavaScript (MSIE quirks)
99. JavaScript (MSIE standard)
100. JavaScript (Opera)
101. MySQL
102. Oracle 10gR1
103. Oracle 10gR2
104. Oracle 11gR1, 11gR2 & 12c
105. PCRE 4.0–4.4
106. PCRE 4.5
107. PCRE 5.0–6.4
108. PCRE 6.5–6.6
109. PCRE 6.7
110. PCRE 7.0
111. PCRE 7.1
112. PCRE 7.2–7.3
113. PCRE 7.4
114. PCRE 7.5–7.6
115. PCRE 7.7–7.9
116. PCRE 8.00
117. PCRE 8.01–8.02
118. PCRE 8.10
119. PCRE 8.11–8.12
120. PCRE 8.13
121. PCRE 8.20
122. PCRE 8.21
123. PCRE 8.30–8.33 UTF-8
124. PCRE 8.30–8.33 UTF-16
125. PCRE 8.32–8.33 UTF-32
126. PCRE 8.34–8.35 UTF-8
127. PCRE 8.34–8.35 UTF-16
128. PCRE 8.34–8.35 UTF-32
129. PCRE 8.36–8.38 UTF-8
130. PCRE 8.36–8.38 UTF-16
131. PCRE 8.36–8.38 UTF-32
132. PCRE 8.39 UTF-8
133. PCRE 8.39 UTF-16
134. PCRE 8.39 UTF-32
135. PCRE 8.40–8.45 UTF-8
136. PCRE 8.40–8.45 UTF-16
137. PCRE 8.40–8.45 UTF-32
138. PCRE2 10.10
139. PCRE2 10.20
140. PCRE2 10.21–10.22
141. PCRE2 10.23
142. PCRE2 10.30–10.31
143. PCRE2 10.32–10.34
144. PCRE2 10.35–10.39
145. Perl 5.8
146. Perl 5.10
147. Perl 5.12
148. Perl 5.14–5.16
149. Perl 5.18
150. Perl 5.20
151. Perl 5.22
152. Perl 5.24
153. Perl 5.26–5.28
154. Perl 5.30–5.32
155. PHP ereg 4.3.3–5.2.17
156. PHP preg 4.3.3–4.3.4
157. PHP preg 4.3.5–4.3.11
158. PHP preg 4.4.0–4.4.2
159. PHP preg 4.4.3–4.4.4
160. PHP preg 4.4.5
161. PHP preg 4.4.6–4.4.8
162. PHP preg 5.0.0–5.0.4
163. PHP preg 5.0.5–5.1.2
164. PHP preg 5.1.3–5.1.6
165. PHP preg 5.2.0–5.2.1
166. PHP preg 5.2.2–5.2.3
167. PHP preg 5.2.4
168. PHP preg 5.2.5
169. PHP preg 5.2.6
170. PHP preg 5.2.7–5.2.13
171. PHP preg 5.2.14–5.2.17
172. PHP preg 5.3.0–5.3.1
173. PHP preg 5.3.2
174. PHP preg 5.3.3
175. PHP preg 5.3.4–5.3.5
176. PHP preg 5.3.6–5.3.18
177. PHP preg 5.3.19–5.3.29
178. PHP preg 5.4.0–5.4.8
179. PHP preg 5.4.9–5.4.40
180. PHP preg 5.4.41–5.4.45
181. PHP preg 5.5.0–5.5.9
182. PHP preg 5.5.10–5.5.24
183. PHP preg 5.5.25–5.5.26
184. PHP preg 5.5.27–5.5.31
185. PHP preg 5.5.32–5.5.38
186. PHP preg 5.6.0–5.6.8
187. PHP preg 5.6.9–5.6.10
188. PHP preg 5.6.11–5.6.17
189. PHP preg 5.6.18–5.6.40
190. PHP preg 7.0.0–7.0.2
191. PHP preg 7.0.3
192. PHP preg 7.0.4–7.1.33
193. PHP preg 7.2.0–7.2.34
194. PHP preg 7.3.0–7.3.33
195. PHP preg 7.4.0–7.4.11
196. PHP preg 7.4.12–7.4.33
197. PHP preg 8.0.0–8.1.29
198. POSIX BRE
199. POSIX ERE
200. PostgreSQL
201. PowerGREP 2
202. PowerGREP 3 & 4
203. PowerGREP 5
204. PowerShell
205. PowerShell operators
206. Python 2.4–2.6
207. Python 2.7
208. Python 3.0
209. Python 3.1
210. Python 3.2
211. Python 3.3
212. Python 3.4
213. Python 3.5
214. Python 3.6
215. Python 3.7–3.10
216. Python 3.11–3.12
217. R 2.14.0–2.14.1
218. R 2.14.2
219. R 2.15.0–3.0.2
220. R 3.0.3–3.1.2
221. R 3.1.3–3.4.4
222. R 3.5.0–3.6.3
223. R 4.0.0–4.1.3
224. R 4.2.0–4.2.1
225. Ruby 1.8
226. Ruby 1.9
227. Ruby 2.0–2.1
228. Ruby 2.2–2.3
229. Ruby 2.4–3.2
230. Scala (JDK 1.4)
231. Scala (JDK 1.5)
232. Scala (JDK 1.6)
233. Scala (JDK 1.7)
234. Scala (JDK 1.8)
235. Scala (JDK 9–12)
236. Scala (JDK 13–14)
237. Scala (JDK 15)
238. Scala (JDK 16)
239. Scala (JDK 17–18)
240. Scala (JDK 19–22)
241. std::regex (C++Builder 10–10.4)
242. std::regex (C++Builder 11–12)
243. std::regex (C++Builder Win64 XE3–XE6)
244. std::regex (C++Builder Win64 XE7–XE8)
245. std::regex (Visual C++ 2008)
246. std::regex (Visual C++ 2010)
247. std::regex (Visual C++ 2012)
248. std::regex (Visual C++ 2013)
249. std::regex (Visual C++ 2015)
250. std::regex (Visual C++ 2017–2022)
251. std::wregex (C++Builder 10–10.4)
252. std::wregex (C++Builder 11–12)
253. std::wregex (C++Builder Win64 XE3–XE6)
254. std::wregex (C++Builder Win64 XE7–XE8)
255. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2008)
256. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2010)
257. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2012)
258. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2013)
259. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2015)
260. std::wregex (Visual C++ 2017–2022)
261. Tcl 8.4
262. Tcl 8.5
263. Tcl 8.6
264. VBscript
265. Visual Basic (.NET 1.1)
266. Visual Basic (.NET 2.0–8.0)
267. Visual Basic 6
268. Visual Studio 2012–2022 IDE
269. wxWidgets
270. XML Schema
271. XPath
272. XRegExp 2 (Chrome)
273. XRegExp 2 (Edge)
274. XRegExp 2 (Firefox)
275. XRegExp 2 (MSIE quirks)
276. XRegExp 2 (MSIE standard)
277. XRegExp 2 (Opera)
278. XRegExp 3 (Chrome)
279. XRegExp 3 (Edge)
280. XRegExp 3 (Firefox)
281. XRegExp 3 (MSIE quirks)
282. XRegExp 3 (MSIE standard)
283. XRegExp 3 (Opera)
284. XRegExp 4 (Chrome)
285. XRegExp 4 (Edge)
286. XRegExp 4 (Firefox)
287. XRegExp 4 (MSIE standard)
288. XRegExp 4 (Opera)
289. XRegExp 5 (Chrome)
290. XRegExp 5 (Edge)
291. XRegExp 5 (Firefox)
292. XRegExp 5 (MSIE standard)