# Regular expression tutorial

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631>\
**Category:** Lounge\
**Created:** [15 April 2024 11:36 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631 "2024-04-15T11:36:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HarSel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/harsel/32/13486_2.png) [@HarSel](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/HarSel)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 11:36 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/1 "2024-04-15T11:36:43Z")

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Can anybody recommend a good tutorial for regex? I used it in a limited fashion (translating URLs on a MS web server) about 20 years ago but have forgotten more than I ever knew I think. Something that shows syntax and allows me to create one and test the results would be perfect and an offline one would be better than perfect.

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**Author:** ![graphit0](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/graphit0/32/3435_2.png) [@graphit0](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/graphit0)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 12:19 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/2 "2024-04-15T12:19:24Z")

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Out of curiosity, what's your use case(s) for Joplin?

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**Author:** ![shikuz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/shikuz/32/21839_2.png) [@shikuz](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/shikuz)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 12:42 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/3 "2024-04-15T12:42:47Z")

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I like [regex101](https://regex101.com/) for trying out patterns. You can test it on a text, and get an explanation of the different components in your pattern.

As for a tutorial, I don't have a favourite, but ChatGPT can actually be helpful sometimes (describe what you want, test the result on regex101, iterate and improve). Here's a short [cheatsheet](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions/Cheatsheet).

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**Author:** ![HarSel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/harsel/32/13486_2.png) [@HarSel](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/HarSel)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 12:50 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/4 "2024-04-15T12:50:10Z")

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> [@graphit0](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, what's your use case(s) for Joplin?

I see others doing searches saying "or use regex and . . ." so I was wondering if it might be worthwhile, and with time on my hands I think it's something I might find a use for. Maybe not today but who knows?

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**Author:** ![LeoW](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/leow/32/22171_2.png) [@LeoW](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/LeoW)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 13:18 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/5 "2024-04-15T13:18:13Z")

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> [@HarSel](#):
>
> Can anybody recommend a good tutorial for regex?

Unfortunately Joplin has limited support for regular expression so in that area it's pretty basic.  
I don't know where you would be able to find a specific list of regular Expressions that are explicitly supported.

Actually, I'm pretty sure there is better support for Boolean expression searching. I would Google that and cross it with Joplin and I just used perplexity and it gave me a bunch of information on Boolean expressions and made it clear that Joplin does not have full support for regular expressions.

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**Author:** ![shikuz](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/shikuz/32/21839_2.png) [@shikuz](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/shikuz)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 13:38 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/6 "2024-04-15T13:38:31Z")

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> [@LeoW](#):
>
> Unfortunately Joplin has limited support for regular expression so in that area it's pretty basic.

Actually, I recently noticed that the beta editor supports regular expressions when searching within a note. At the bottom of the editor I found this:

 ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/0/d/0da00dd3f2c52472b0d102ccb308aee2ee5892d4.png)

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**Author:** ![HarSel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/harsel/32/13486_2.png) [@HarSel](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/HarSel)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2024 14:16 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/7 "2024-04-15T14:16:05Z")

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I saw it as well in the "Search and Replace" plugin and thought it might be useful. It's not of any real importance, I saw it and wondered if it would improve searching.

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [15 April 2026 14:16 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/regular-expression-tutorial/37631/8 "2026-04-15T14:16:24Z")

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Closed on 15 April 2026 14:16 UTC

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