# Regular expression basics

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Regular expressions use special characters (also known as regular expression operators) to specify rules for strings. A summary of these characters are: ^ Beginning of string $ End of string . Any character [ Start of character list

] End of character list

( Start of expression group

) End of expression group

| ORs two expressions

\ Escape character

* Preceding expression occurs zero or more times

? Preceding expression occurs zero or one times

+ Preceding expression occurs one or more times

{ Start of bounded repeat

} End of bounded repeat

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