Comparison of regular expression engines

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This is a comparison of regular expression engines.

Libraries

List of regular expression libraries
Name Official website Programming language Software license Used by
Template:Rh | Boost.Regex[Note 1]Template:R/superscript Boost C++ Libraries C++ Boost Notepad++ >= 6.0.0, EmEditor
Template:Rh | Boost.Xpressive Boost C++ Libraries C++ Boost  
Template:Rh | DEELX RegExLab C++ Proprietary  
Template:Rh | FREJ[Note 2]Template:R/superscript Fuzzy Regular Expressions for Java Java LGPL  
Template:Rh | GLib/GRegex[Note 3]Template:R/superscript GLib reference manual C LGPL  
Template:Rh | GNU regex Gnulib reference manual C LGPL GNU libc, GNU programs
Template:Rh | GRETA Microsoft Research C++ Proprietary  
Template:Rh |Gregex Grovf Inc. RTL, HLS Proprietary FPGA accelerated >100 Gbit/s regex engine for cybersecurity, financial, e-commerce industries.
Template:Rh | Hyperscan Intel C, x86-specific assembly (SSSE3+[1]) 3-clause BSD Rspamd
Template:Rh | ICU International Components for Unicode C, C++[Note 4]Template:R/superscript ICU Foundation (Apple and Swift open-source versions)
Template:Rh | Jakarta Regexp The Apache Jakarta Project Java Apache  
Template:Rh | java.util.regex Java's User manual Java GNU GPLv2 with Classpath exception jEdit
Template:Rh | JRegex JRegex Java BSD  
Template:Rh | MATLAB Regular Expressions MATLAB Language Proprietary  
Template:Rh | Oniguruma Kosako C BSD Atom, Take Command Console, Tera Term, TextMate, Sublime Text, SubEthaEdit, EmEditor, jq, Ruby
Template:Rh | Pattwo Stevesoft Java (compatible with Java 1.0) LGPL  
Template:Rh | PCRE pcre.org C, C++[Note 5]Template:R/superscript BSD Apache HTTP Server, Nginx, BBEdit, Edbrowse, Julia, HHVM, Notepad++ < 6.0.0, PHP, Delphi, R, Exim, SWI-Prolog, Elixir, Erlang
Template:Rh | Qt/QRegExp Digia Script error: No such module "webarchive". C++ Qt GNU GPL v. 3.0,

Qt GNU LGPL v. 2.1, Qt Commercial

Kate, Kile
Template:Rh | regex - Henry Spencer's regular expression libraries ArgList C BSD  
Template:Rh | RE2 RE2 C++ BSD Go, Google Sheets, Gmail, G Suite
Template:Rh | Henry Spencer's Advanced Regular Expressions Tcl C BSD  
Template:Rh | RGX RGX C++ based component library P6R  
Template:Rh | RXP Titan IC RTL Proprietary hardware-accelerated search acceleration using RegEx available for ASIC, FPGA and cloud. Enables massively parallel content processing at ultra-high speeds.
Template:Rh | SubReg Matt Bucknall C MIT  
Template:Rh | TPerlRegEx TPerlRegEx VCL Component Object Pascal MPLv1.1  
Template:Rh | TRE[Note 2]Template:R/superscript Ville Laurikari C BSD musl
Template:Rh | TRegExpr TRegExpr, documentation,

(RegExp Studio)

Object Pascal Dual-license: freeware, or LGPL with static linking exception Total Commander
Template:Rh | Wolfram Language (Mathematica) Wolfram Language Documentation Center Wolfram Language Proprietary Mathematica, the Wolfram Development Platform
Template:Rh | XRegExp XRegExp JavaScript MIT  

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  1. ↑ Formerly called Regex++.
  2. ↑ a b One of fuzzy regular expression engines.
  3. ↑ Included since version 2.13.0.
  4. ↑ ICU4J, the Java version, does not support regular expressions.
  5. ↑ C++ bindings were developed by Google and became officially part of PCRE in 2006.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Languages

List of languages and frameworks including regular expression support
Language Official website Software license Remarks
Template:Rh | ActionScript 3 ActionScript Technology Center Free
Template:Rh | APL (APLX, Dyalog, GNU) APL Wiki Licensed by the respective implementation ⎕SS (PCRE), ⎕R/⎕S (PCRE), ⎕SS (PCRE2), respectively
Template:Rh | C++11 (C++) C++ standards website Licensed by the respective implementation Since ISO14822:2011(e), similar to ECMAScript on default (Grammar Description)
Template:Rh | D D Boost Software License[Note 1]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Elixir elixir-lang.org Apache 2.0 Standard library includes PCRE-based Regex module. The matching algorithms of the library are based on the PCRE library, but not all of the PCRE library is interfaced and some parts of the library go beyond what PCRE offers. Currently PCRE version 8.40 (release date 2017-01-11) is used.
Template:Rh | Erlang erlang.org Apache 2.0 Standard library includes PCRE-based re module. The matching algorithms of the library are based on the PCRE library, but not all of the PCRE library is interfaced and some parts of the library go beyond what PCRE offers. Currently PCRE version 8.40 (release date 2017-01-11) is used.
Template:Rh | Free Pascal (Object Pascal) freepascal.org LGPL with static linking exception Free Pascal 2.6+ ships with TRegExpr from Sorokin and two other regular expression libraries; See wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Regexpr.
Template:Rh | Go go.dev BSD-style
Template:Rh | Haskell Haskell.org BSD3 Omitted in the language report, and in GHC's Hierarchical Libraries
Template:Rh | Java Java GNU General Public License REs are written as strings in source code: all backslashes must be doubled, harming readability.
Template:Rh | JavaScript (ECMAScript) ECMA-262 BSD3 Limited but REs are first-class citizens of the language with a specific /.../mod syntax.
Template:Rh | Julia JuliaLang.org MIT License REs are part of the language core library using PCRE built-in and an optional wrapper for (C code) ICU is available.
Template:Rh | Lua Lua.org MIT License Uses simplified, limited dialect; can be bound to more powerful library, like PCRE or an alternative parser like LPeg.
Template:Rh | Mathematica Wolfram Proprietary
Template:Rh | .NET MSDN MIT License[Note 2]Template:R/superscript[Note 3]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Nim nim-lang.org MIT License Standard library includes PCRE-based re and nre modules, as well as various alternatives (ex. strutils, pegs (Parsing Expression Grammar matching), strscans, parseutils, etc.).
Template:Rh | OCaml Caml LGPL As of 2010Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., the standard module is generally regarded as deprecated;[2] often recommended libraries are pcre (with full support for PCRE) and re (which is not as complete but claims better performance and provides frontends to popular syntaxes: PCRE, Perl, Posix, Emacs, shell globbing).
Template:Rh | Perl Perl.com Artistic License, or GNU General Public License Full, central part of the language
Template:Rh | PHP PHP.net PHP License Has two implementations, with PCRE being the more efficient in speed, functions
Template:Rh | POSIX C (C) POSIX.1 web publication Licensed by the respective implementation Supports POSIX BRE and ERE syntax
Template:Rh | Python python.org Python Software Foundation License Python has two major implementations, the built in re and the regex library.
Template:Rh | Ruby ruby-lang.org GNU Library General Public License Ruby 1.8, Ruby 1.9, and Ruby 2.0 and later versions use different engines; Ruby 1.9 integrates Oniguruma, Ruby 2.0 and later integrate Onigmo, a fork from Oniguruma.
Template:Rh | Rust docs.rs MIT License The primary regex crate does not allow look-around expressions. There is an Oniguruma binding called onig that does.
Template:Rh | SAP ABAP SAP.com Proprietary
Template:Rh | Tcl tcl.tk Tcl/Tk License
(BSD-style) 		Tcl library doubles as a regular expression library.
Template:Rh | Wolfram Language Wolfram Research Proprietary: usable for free on a limited scale on the Wolfram Development platform
Template:Rh | XML Schema W3C Licensed by the respective implementation
Template:Rh | XPath 3/XQuery W3C Licensed by the respective implementation

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Language features

NOTE: An application using a library for regular expression support does not necessarily support the full set of features of the library, e.g., GNU grep uses PCRE, but supports no lookahead, though PCRE does.

Part 1

Language feature comparison (part 1)
"+" quantifier Negated character classes Non-greedy quantifiers
[Note 1]Template:R/superscript 		Shy groups
[Note 2]Template:R/superscript 		Recursion Look-ahead Look-behind Backreferences
[Note 3]Template:R/superscript 		>9 indexable captures
Template:Rh | Boost.Regex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 4]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Boost.Xpressive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 5]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | CL-PPCRE Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | EmEditor Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
Template:Rh | FREJ No[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript Yes No No No Yes Yes
Template:Rh | GLib/GRegex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | GNU grep Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes —
Template:Rh | Haskell Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh |RXP Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
Template:Rh | ICU Regex Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Java Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | JavaScript (ECMAScript) Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes[Note 7]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes
Template:Rh | JGsoft Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[3] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Lua Yes Yes Some[Note 8]Template:R/superscript No No No No Yes No
Template:Rh | .NET Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | OCaml Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No
Template:Rh | PCRE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Perl Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | PHP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Python Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 9]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Qt/QRegExp Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes Yes
Template:Rh | RE2 Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes
Template:Rh | Ruby, Onigmo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | TRE Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No
Template:Rh | Vim Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
Template:Rh | RGX Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Tcl Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | TRegExpr Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | XML Schema Yes Yes No — No No No No —
Template:Rh | XPath 3/XQuery Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes
Template:Rh | XRegExp Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes[Note 7]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes

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  1. ↑ Non-greedy quantifiers match as few characters as possible, instead of the default as many. Note that many older, pre-POSIX engines were non-greedy and didn't have greedy quantifiers at all.
  2. ↑ Shy groups, also called non-capturing groups cannot be referred to with backreferences; non-capturing groups are used to speed up matching where the group's content does not need to be accessed later.
  3. ↑ Backreferences enable referring to previously matched groups in later parts of the regex and/or replacement string (where applicable). For instance, ([ab]+)\1 matches "abab" but not "abaab".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b FREJ have no repetitive quantifiers, but have "optional" element which behaves similar to simple "?" quantifier.
  7. ↑ a b As of ES2018
  8. ↑ Lua's only non-greedy quantifier is -, which is a non-greedy version of *. It does not have non-greedy versions of + or ?; in the former case, the non-greedy effect can be achieved by repeating the token followed by -, but in the latter case, there is no equivalent.
  9. ↑ Supported by the optional regex library only.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Part 2

Language feature comparison (part 2)
Directives
[Note 1]Template:R/superscript 		Conditionals Atomic groups
[Note 2]Template:R/superscript 		Named capture
[Note 3]Template:R/superscript 		Comments Embedded code Unicode property support [4] Balancing groups
[Note 4]Template:R/superscript 		Variable-length look-behinds
[Note 5]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Boost.Regex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | Boost.Xpressive Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Template:Rh | CL-PPCRE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | EmEditor Yes Yes ? ? Yes No ? No No
Template:Rh | FREJ No No Yes Yes Yes No ? No No
Template:Rh | GLib/GRegex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | GNU grep Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No No No No
Template:Rh | Haskell ? ? ? ? ? No No No No
Template:Rh |RXP Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
Template:Rh | ICU Regex Yes No Yes Yes[Note 7]Template:R/superscript Yes No Yes No No
Template:Rh | Java Yes No Yes Yes[Note 8]Template:R/superscript Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | JavaScript (ECMAScript) No No No Yes No No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript[Note 9][5] No Yes
Template:Rh | JGsoft Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No Yes
Template:Rh | Lua No No No No No No No No No
Template:Rh | .NET Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes
Template:Rh | OCaml No No No No No No No No No
Template:Rh | PCRE Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Template:Rh | Perl Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No[Note 10]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | PHP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No
Template:Rh | Python Yes Yes Yes[Note 11]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes No Yes[Note 12]Template:R/superscript No Yes[Note 13]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Qt/QRegExp No No No No No No No No No
Template:Rh | RE2 Yes No ? Yes No No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | Ruby, Onigmo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Some[Note 6]Template:R/superscript No No
Template:Rh | Tcl Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No
Template:Rh | TRE Yes No No No Yes No ? No No
Template:Rh | Vim Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes
Template:Rh | RGX Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No
Template:Rh | XML Schema No No No No No No Yes No No
Template:Rh | XPath 3/XQuery No No No No No No Yes No No
Template:Rh | XRegExp Leading only No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes

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  1. ↑ Also known as flags modifiers, modes modifiers or option letters. Example pattern: "(?i:test)".
  2. ↑ Also called independent sub-expressions.
  3. ↑ Similar to back references, but with names instead of indices.
  4. ↑ Special feature allowing to match balanced constructs without recursion.
  5. ↑ Refers to the possibility of including quantifiers in look-behinds, thus making their length unpredictable.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Unicode property support may be incomplete (products are continuously updated!). All will be incomplete when a new Unicode revision is released until they are updated to comply.
  7. ↑ Available as of ICU55.
  8. ↑ Available as of JDK7.
  9. ↑ The support and range of properties is dependent on implementation.
  10. ↑ Experimental support added in v5.29.9.
  11. ↑ Supported by Python v3.11 and later, and the optional regex library only.
  12. ↑ May only be available in the regex library when used with Python versions after 3.3.
  13. ↑ Supported by the optional regex library only.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

API features

API feature comparison
Native UTF-16 support[Note 1]Template:R/superscript Native UTF-8 support[Note 1]Template:R/superscript Multi-line matching Partial match[Note 2]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Boost.Regex No No Yes Yes
Template:Rh | GLib/GRegex Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | RXP Yes Yes No Yes
Template:Rh | ICU Regex Yes No Yes ?
Template:Rh | Java Yes[Note 3]Template:R/superscript Yes[Note 3]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes
Template:Rh | .NET No[Note 4]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | PCRE Yes[Note 5]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Qt/QRegExp Yes No No Yes[Note 6]Template:R/superscript
Template:Rh | Qt/QRegularExpression Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Tcl Yes Yes[Note 7]Template:R/superscript Yes ?
Template:Rh | TRE Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | RGX No No Yes ?
Template:Rh | wxWidgets::wxRegEx[Note 8]Template:R/superscript Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | XRegExp Yes Yes Yes No

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  1. ↑ a b Means the format can be used internally without explicit conversion.
  2. ↑ Partial match of the whole regular expression. For example the pattern ".*END$" will match any string partially, but only strings ending with END fully.[1].
  3. ↑ a b Supports Unicode 15.0 standard from 2023.[2].
  4. ↑ Implementation uses original UCS-2 support/features, so it only recognizes 64K chars total (vs UTF-16's 1,112,064 characters). A Microsoft developer-representative answered a bug report on this as "will not fix" in 2010.[3].
  5. ↑ Since version 8.30.
  6. ↑ Partial matching is performed implicitly, requiring a separate call to matchedLength() if an exact match fails.
  7. ↑ Tcl includes facilities to convert to and from UTF-8.
  8. ↑ wxRegEx uses any system supplied POSIX library or if not available and for Unicode mode uses Henry Spencer's library.

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

External links

Template:Strings

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