"regular expression" meaning in English

See regular expression in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: regular expressions [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} regular expression (plural regular expressions)
  1. (computing theory) A concise description of a regular formal language with notations for concatenation, alternation, and iteration (repetition) of subexpressions. Categories (topical): Theory of computing, Regular expressions Translations (computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched): 正則表達式 (Chinese Mandarin), 正则表达式 (zhèngzé biǎodáshì) (Chinese Mandarin), 正規表示法 (Chinese Mandarin), 正规表示法 (zhèngguī biǎoshìfǎ) (Chinese Mandarin), 常規表示法 (Chinese Mandarin), 常规表示法 (chángguī biǎoshìfǎ) (Chinese Mandarin), regulární výraz [masculine] (Czech), säännöllinen lauseke (Finnish), expression rationnelle [feminine] (French), expression régulière [feminine] (French), regulärer Ausdruck [masculine] (German), RegExp [masculine] (German), Regex [masculine] (German), κανονική έκφραση (kanonikí ékfrasi) [feminine] (Greek), reguláris kifejezés (Hungarian), regluleg segð [feminine] (Icelandic), espressione regolare [feminine] (Italian), 正規表現 (sēkihyōgen) (alt: せいきひょうげん) (Japanese), عبارت باقاعده ('ebârat-e bâqâ'ede) (Persian), expressão regular [feminine] (Portuguese), регуля́рное выраже́ние (reguljárnoje vyražénije) [neuter] (Russian), регэ́ксп (rɛgɛ́ksp) [masculine, slang] (Russian), реге́кс (rɛgɛ́ks) [masculine] (Russian), expresión regular [feminine] (Spanish), reguljärt uttryck (Swedish), นิพจน์ปรกติ (Thai), นิพจน์ปกติ (Thai), düzenli ifade (Turkish)
    Sense id: en-regular_expression-en-noun-DNqVHMF5 Disambiguation of Regular expressions: 78 22 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 83 17 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 84 16 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 80 20 Topics: computing, computing-theory, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences Disambiguation of 'computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched': 82 18
  2. (computing, more generally) Any pattern for text matching or searching, frequently offering more or less functionality than a theoretical regular expression. Tags: broadly Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-regular_expression-en-noun-ncEKyFeM Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: regex, regexp Derived forms: grep, PCRE, re, regex, regexp

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for regular expression meaning in English (8.3kB)

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          "iteration",
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          "_dis1": "82 18",
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          "word": "正則表達式"
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          "roman": "zhèngzé biǎodáshì",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "正则表达式"
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          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "正規表示法"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "zhèngguī biǎoshìfǎ",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "正规表示法"
        },
        {
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          "code": "cs",
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          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "regulární výraz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "säännöllinen lauseke"
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "expression rationnelle"
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          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
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          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
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          "roman": "kanonikí ékfrasi",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
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            "feminine"
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          "word": "κανονική έκφραση"
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          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
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          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "regluleg segð"
        },
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          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "espressione regolare"
        },
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          "alt": "せいきひょうげん",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "sēkihyōgen",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "正規表現"
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        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "fa",
          "lang": "Persian",
          "roman": "'ebârat-e bâqâ'ede",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "word": "عبارت باقاعده"
        },
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          "lang": "Portuguese",
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            "feminine"
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          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "reguljárnoje vyražénije",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "регуля́рное выраже́ние"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "82 18",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "rɛgɛ́ksp",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
            "masculine",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "регэ́ксп"
        },
        {
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "rɛgɛ́ks",
          "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "реге́кс"
        },
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          "word": "reguljärt uttryck"
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          "lang": "Turkish",
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          "word": "düzenli ifade"
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    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "正則表達式"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "zhèngzé biǎodáshì",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "正则表达式"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "正規表示法"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "zhèngguī biǎoshìfǎ",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "正规表示法"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "常規表示法"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "chángguī biǎoshìfǎ",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "常规表示法"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "regulární výraz"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "säännöllinen lauseke"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "expression rationnelle"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "expression régulière"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "regulärer Ausdruck"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "RegExp"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Regex"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "kanonikí ékfrasi",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "κανονική έκφραση"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "reguláris kifejezés"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "regluleg segð"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "espressione regolare"
    },
    {
      "alt": "せいきひょうげん",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "sēkihyōgen",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "正規表現"
    },
    {
      "code": "fa",
      "lang": "Persian",
      "roman": "'ebârat-e bâqâ'ede",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "عبارت باقاعده"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "expressão regular"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "reguljárnoje vyražénije",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "регуля́рное выраже́ние"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "rɛgɛ́ksp",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "slang"
      ],
      "word": "регэ́ксп"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "rɛgɛ́ks",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "реге́кс"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "expresión regular"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "reguljärt uttryck"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "นิพจน์ปรกติ"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "นิพจน์ปกติ"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "computing: a concise description of a pattern to be matched",
      "word": "düzenli ifade"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "regular expression"
  ],
  "word": "regular expression"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.