Regex expression matching strings

Question

What input string will the following regex expression match:

[1-4]{0-5}

I know the first part: [1-4] specifies the numerals allowed in the input, and the latter the length? But it does not match any of the expected inputs, such as 1112, 123..

The way you've changed the question makes the existing answers look very odd. If that pattern really isn't matching "1112" please provide a [mcve] so we can try to reproduce the issue. — Jon Skeet, Jun 03 '18 at 07:28

Mustofa Rizwan · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-03T07:30:18.430

3

Try the following regex,

It should be :

[1-4]{0,5}

This will match:

empty string  = because {0,5} means zero to 5 length of character
1
11
111
1111
11111
2
22
2222

1
12
1234
12344
and it goes on and on but nothing beyond the digit 4, and no length beyond 5

Regex101Demo

edited Jun 03 '18 at 07:30

answered Jun 03 '18 at 07:24

Mustofa Rizwan

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '18 at 07:26

3

The latter is not the length. If it were the length, it would be {0,5} with a comma instead of a -.

Without the comma, it will just match {0-5} literally, so this matches:

1{0-5}

I think you want

[1-4]{0,5}

answered Jun 03 '18 at 07:26

Sweeper

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Regex expression matching strings

2 Answers2