about_regular_expressions - PowerShell command help and examples

Describes regular expressions in Windows PowerShell. (about_regular_expressions)

 TOPIC
 
    about_Regular_Expressions 

 SHORT DESCRIPTION
 
    Describes regular expressions in Windows PowerShell. 

 LONG DESCRIPTION
 
    Windows PowerShell supports the following regular expression characters. 

        Format   Logic                            Example 
        -------- -------------------------------  ----------------------- 
        value    Matches exact characters         "book" -match "oo"
                 anywhere in the original value. 

        .        Matches any single character.    "copy" -match "c..y"

        [value]  Matches at least one of the      "big" -match "b[iou]g"
                 characters in the brackets. 

        [range]  Matches at least one of the      "and" -match "[a-e]nd"
                 characters within the range. 
                 The use of a hyphen (-) allows 
                 you to specify an adjacent 
                 character. 

        [^]      Matches any characters except    "and" -match "[^brt]nd"
                 those in brackets. 

        ^        Matches the beginning            "book" -match "^bo"
                 characters. 

        $        Matches the end characters.      "book" -match "ok$"

        *        Matches any instances            "baggy" -match "g*"
                 of the preceding character. 

        ?        Matches one instance             "baggy" -match "g?"
                 of the preceding character. 

        \        Matches the character that       "Try$" -match "Try\$"
                 follows as an escaped character. 

    Windows PowerShell supports the character classes available in 
    Microsoft .NET Framework regular expressions. 

        Format   Logic                            Example 
        -------- -------------------------------  ----------------------- 
        \p{name} Matches any character in the     "abcd defg" -match "\p{Ll}+"
                 named character class specified 
                 by {name}. Supported names are 
                 Unicode groups and block 
                 ranges such as Ll, Nd, 
                 Z, IsGreek, and IsBoxDrawing. 

        \P{name} Matches text not included in     1234 -match "\P{Ll}+"
                 the groups and block ranges 
                 specified in {name}. 

        \w       Matches any word character.      "abcd defg" -match "\w+"
                 Equivalent to the Unicode        (this matches abcd) 
                 character categories [\p{Ll} 
                 \p{Lu}\p{Lt}\p{Lo}\p{Nd}\p{Pc}]. 
                 If ECMAScript-compliant behavior 
                 is specified with the ECMAScript 
                 option, \w is equivalent to 
                 [a-zA-Z_0-9]. 

        \W       Matches any nonword character.   "abcd defg" -match "\W+"
                 Equivalent to the Unicode        (This matches the space) 
                 categories [^\p{Ll}\p{Lu}\p{Lt} 
                 \p{Lo}\p{Nd}\p{Pc}]. 

        \s       Matches any white-space          "abcd defg" -match "\s+"
                 character.  Equivalent to the 
                 Unicode character categories 
                 [\f\n\r\t\v\x85\p{Z}]. 

        \S       Matches any non-white-space      "abcd defg" -match "\S+"
                 character. Equivalent to the 
                 Unicode character categories 
                 [^\f\n\r\t\v\x85\p{Z}]. 

        \d       Matches any decimal digit.       12345 -match "\d+"
                 Equivalent to \p{Nd} for 
                 Unicode and [0-9] for non- 
                 Unicode behavior. 

        \D       Matches any nondigit.            "abcd" -match "\D+"
                 Equivalent  to \P{Nd} for 
                 Unicode and [^0-9] for non- 
                 Unicode behavior. 

    Windows PowerShell supports the quantifiers available in .NET Framework 
    regular expressions. The following are some examples of quantifiers. 

        Format   Logic                            Example 
        -------- -------------------------------  ----------------------- 
        *        Specifies zero or more matches;  "abc" -match "\w*"
                 for example, \w* or (abc)*. 
                 Equivalent to {0,}. 

        +        Matches repeating instances of   "xyxyxy" -match "xy+"
                 the preceding characters. 

        ?        Specifies zero or one matches;   "abc" -match "\w?"
                 for example, \w? or (abc)?. 
                 Equivalent to {0,1}. 

        {n}      Specifies exactly n matches;     "abc" -match "\w{2}"
                 for example, (pizza){2}. 

        {n,}     Specifies at least n matches;    "abc" -match "\w{2,}"
                 for example, (abc){2,}. 

        {n,m}    Specifies at least n, but no     "abc" -match "\w{2,3}"
                 more than m, matches. 

    All the comparisons shown in the preceding table evaluate to true. 

    Notice that the escape character for regular expressions, a backslash (\), 
    is different from the escape character for Windows PowerShell. The 
    escape character for Windows PowerShell is the backtick character (`) 
    (ASCII 96). 

    For more information, see the "Regular Expression Language Elements" topic 
    in the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) library 
    at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=133231. 

SEE ALSO 
    about_Comparison_Operators 
    about_Operators 

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