Regular Expressions Matching Simple Patterns Matching various numbers
Example
[a-b] where a and b are digits in the range 0 to 9
[3-7] will match a single digit in the range 3 to 7.
Matching multiple digits
\d\d will match 2 consecutive digits
\d+ will match 1 or more consecutive digits
\d* will match 0 or more consecutive digits
\d{3} will match 3 consecutive digits
\d{3,6} will match 3 to 6 consecutive digits
\d{3,} will match 3 or more consecutive digits
The \d in the above examples can be replaced with a number range:
[3-7][3-7] will match 2 consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
[3-7]+ will match 1 or more consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
[3-7]* will match 0 or more consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
[3-7]{3} will match 3 consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
[3-7]{3,6} will match 3 to 6 consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
[3-7]{3,} will match 3 or more consecutive digits that are in the range 3 to 7
You can also select specific digits:
[13579] will only match "odd" digits
[02468] will only match "even" digits
1|3|5|7|9 another way of matching "odd" digits - the | symbol means OR
Matching numbers in ranges that contain more than one digit:
\d|10 matches 0 to 10 single digit OR 10. The | symbol means OR
[1-9]|10 matches 1 to 10 digit in range 1 to 9 OR 10
[1-9]|1[0-5] matches 1 to 15 digit in range 1 to 9 OR 1 followed by digit 1 to 5
\d{1,2}|100 matches 0 to 100 one to two digits OR 100
Matching numbers that divide by other numbers:
\d*0 matches any number that divides by 10 - any number ending in 0
\d*00 matches any number that divides by 100 - any number ending in 00
\d*[05] matches any number that divides by 5 - any number ending in 0 or 5
\d*[02468] matches any number that divides by 2 - any number ending in 0,2,4,6 or 8
matching numbers that divide by 4 - any number that is 0, 4 or 8 or ends in 00, 04, 08, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 68, 72, 76, 80, 84, 88, 92 or 96
[048]|\d*(00|04|08|12|16|20|24|28|32|36|40|44|48|52|56|60|64|68|72|76|80|84|88|92|96)
This can be shortened. For example, instead of using 20|24|28 we can use 2[048]. Also, as the 40s, 60s and 80s have the same pattern we can include them: [02468][048] and the others have a pattern too [13579][26]. So the whole sequence can be reduce to:
[048]|\d*([02468][048]|[13579][26]) - numbers divisible by 4
Matching numbers that don't have a pattern like those divisible by 2,4,5,10 etc can't always be done succinctly and you usually have to resort to a range of numbers. For example matching all numbers that divide by 7 within the range of 1 to 50 can be done simple by listing all those numbers:
7|14|21|28|35|42|49
or you could do it this way
7|14|2[18]|35|4[29]
