What matches this regex?

Question

This compiles and executes:

 var re = new Regex(@"what\ever");

But I can't find anything that matches it. whatever, what\ever and what\\ever all fail to match.

\e isn't a valid escape sequence AFAIK, so I'm not sure what the intended behaviour here is...

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

7

I think \e matches the "Escape" character (ASCII code 27). Hence it should match "what\x1bver"

answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

lijie

This answer has been added to the [Stack Overflow Regular Expression FAQ](http://stackoverflow.com/a/22944075/2736496), under "Escape Sequences". – aliteralmind Apr 10 '14 at 01:06

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

3

\e is the escape control character

you can use a free tool called The Regulator which has built in intellisense which helps for things like this.

answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

Kev Hunter

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

2

\e is usually equal to \033.

answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

Correct... but who uses octal? – mpen Nov 25 '10 at 10:11
@Mark: People who prefer keeping their fingers on the number row instead of reaching around for those pesky letters :P – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Nov 25 '10 at 10:18

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

2

It's the escape sequence (0x1B).

See non printable characters section here.

answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:00

Simone

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:06

-1

I think you should use

var re = new Regex(@"[what\ever]");

to match "what\ever"

answered Nov 25 '10 at 10:06

dhinesh

That looks like a character class to me.... not at all what I want. That will match *anything* with 1 or more of those letters in it. Not to mention this was only an example... I have no intention of matching `what\ever` (if I did, I'd use `what\\ever`) – mpen Nov 25 '10 at 10:54
`-1` for giving a wrong answer. [See this explanation](http://rick.measham.id.au/paste/explain.pl?regex=%5Bwhat%5Cever%5D) – HamZa Apr 06 '14 at 08:33

5 Answers5