RegExp Meta Characters

Regular Expression Metacharacters

// Match words const pattern = /\w/;

JavaScript Regex Metacharacters

Revised July 2025

Meta

Description

Matches Digits

Matches None Digits

Matches alphanumeric Word characters

Matches None alphanumeric Word characters

Matches Spaces

Matches None Spaces

Matches characters by the Octal numer ddd

Matches characters by the HexadecimaL number hh

Example

let text = "Give 100%!";
const pattern = /\d/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);

The \D metacharacter matches non - digit characters.

Example

A global search for non - digit characters:

let text = "Give 100%!";
const pattern = /\D/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);
RegExp \w (word) Metacharacter

A word character is a character a - z, A - Z, 0 - 9, including _ (underscore).

Example

let text = "Give 100%!";
const pattern = /\w/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);

The \W metacharacter matches non - word characters.
A word character is a character a - z, A - Z, 0 - 9, including _ (underscore).

Example

A global search for non - word characters:

let text = "Give 100%!";
const pattern = /\W/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);
The \s (space) Metacharacter

Example

let text = "Is this all there is?";
const pattern = /\s/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);
RegExp \xhh (hexadecimal)

let text = "Visit W3Schools. Hello World!";
let pattern = /\x6F/g;
let result = text.replace(pattern, "*");
RegExp \uhhhh (unicode hex)

Example

let text = "Visit W3Schools. Hello World!";
const pattern = /\u0057/g;
let result = text.match(pattern);

Regular Expression Methods

Regular Expression

Search and

These are the most common:

String Methods