Lessons · Regex · literal characters
Characters match themselves
A plain pattern like error finds those exact characters anywhere in the text.
Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
The first regex anyone writes is a word to search for in a log.
How to think about it
Is plain text enough? Start with the literal text. Add special characters only when plain text is not enough.
Worked example
pattern: warnFour plain characters.
text: a warning was loggedMatches 'warn' inside 'warning'.
text: all clearNo match.
Your turn
Find the word 'fail' in a line.
Test a pattern against real text
The trap
Assuming a literal matches only whole words. It matches inside other words too; that is what \b is for.
Practise literal characters on HoneA question on it now, a coding challenge where there is one, and it is remembered for review. Free, no email needed.