Regex escape
Useful when you build a pattern from user input, a URL or a price that contains dots and brackets.
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Processing and privacy: The result is calculated inside your browser and your data is not sent to any server.
How to use it
- Enter text.
- The result appears straight away and updates as you edit.
- Copy the result, or copy a link that keeps the same values to share it.
How it is calculated
The characters \ ^ $ . * + ? ( ) [ ] { } | / get a backslash in front, a newline becomes \n and a carriage return \r. All other characters stay as they are.
Example
Result: Escaped pattern: price: \$9\.99 \(VAT 15%\).
price: $9.99 (VAT 15%)
price: \$9\.99 \(VAT 15%\)
Limits and caveats
- The output targets JavaScript; other engines may need extra escapes, such as # in extended mode.
- The hyphen is not escaped, since \- outside a character class is an error with the u flag.
Questions about this tool
Why is the dot escaped?
In regex a dot matches any character, so 9.99 also matches 9x99. Escaped as \. it matches only a dot.
Can I pass the result to new RegExp?
Yes, pass the escaped pattern as a string. If you type it inside a JavaScript string literal, double every backslash.
Why is the slash / escaped?
So the pattern works inside a /pattern/ literal without ending early. Escaping it is allowed in every mode.