Regular Expressions in C#

Use Regular Expression Comments

Regular expressions are much easier to understand if you use the following syntax and comment each component of the expression by
using a number sign (#). To enable comments, you must also specify RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace, which means that
non-escaped white space is ignored.
Regex regex = new Regex(@"
^
# anchor at the start
(?=.*\d)
# must contain at least one numeric character
(?=.*[a-z]) # must contain one lowercase character
(?=.*[A-Z]) # must contain one uppercase character
.{8,10}
# From 8 to 10 characters in length
\s
# allows a space
$
# anchor at the end",
RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace);

Common Regular Expressions

Some common regular expressions are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Common Regular Expressions

Name

Field

Expression
^[a-zA-Z''-'\s]{1,40}$

Format Samples
John Doe
O'Dell

Social Security Number

^\d{3}-\d{2}-\d{4}$

111-11-1111

Description
Validates a name. Allows up
to 40 uppercase and lowercase
characters and a few special
characters that are common to
some names. You can modify
this list.
Validates the format, type, and
length of the supplied input

Phone Number

^[01]?[- .]?(\([2-9]\d{2}\)|[29]\d{2})[- .]?\d{3}[- .]?\d{4}$

(425) 555-0123
begin_of_the_skype_highlight
ing
(425) 5550123 FREE end_of_the_skyp
e_highlighting
425-555-0123
begin_of_the_skype_highlight

field. The input must consist

of 3 numeric characters
followed by a dash, then 2
numeric characters followed
by a dash, and then 4 numeric
characters.
Validates a U.S. phone
number. It must consist of 3
numeric characters, optionally
enclosed in parentheses,
followed by a set of 3 numeric
characters and then a set of 4
numeric characters.

ing
425-5550123 FREE end_of_the_skyp
e_highlighting
425 555 0123
begin_of_the_skype_highlight
ing
425 555
0123 FREE end_of_the_skyp
e_highlighting
1-425-555-0123
begin_of_the_skype_highlight

E-mail

^(?("")("".+?""@)|(([0-9a-zAZ]((\.(?!\.))|[!#\$%&'\*\+/=\?\^`\{\}\|~\w])*
)(?<=[0-9a-zA-

ing
1-425-5550123 FREE end_of_the_skyp
e_highlighting
someone@example.com

Validates an e-mail address.

URL

ZIP Code

Password

Z])@))(?(\[)(\[(\d{1,3}\.){3}\d
{1,3}\])|(([0-9a-zA-Z][\w]*[0-9a-zA-Z]\.)+[a-zAZ]{2,6}))$
^(ht|f)tp(s?)\:\/\/[0-9a-zA-Z]([.\w]*[0-9a-zA-Z])*(:(09)*)*(\/?)([a-zA-Z0-9\\.\?\,\'\/\\\+&amp;%\$#_]*)?$
^(\d{5}\d{4}|\d{5}|\d{9})$|^([a-zAZ]\d[a-zA-Z] \d[a-zA-Z]\d)$
(?!^[0-9]*$)(?!^[a-zAZ]*$)^([a-zA-Z0-9]{8,10})$

http://www.microsoft.com

Validates a URL

12345

Validates a U.S. ZIP Code.

The code must consist of 5 or
9 numeric characters.
Validates a strong password. It
must be between 8 and 10
characters, contain at least one
digit and one alphabetic
character, and must not
contain special characters.
Validates that the field
contains an integer greater
than zero.
Validates a positive currency
amount. If there is a decimal
point, it requires 2 numeric
characters after the decimal
point. For example, 3.00 is
valid but 3.1 is not.
Validates for a positive or
negative currency amount. If
there is a decimal point, it
requires 2 numeric characters
after the decimal point.

Non- negative integer

^\d+$

0
986

Currency (non- negative)

^\d+(\.\d\d)?$

1.00

Currency (positive or
negative)

^(-)?\d+(\.\d\d)?$

1.20