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Regular Expression Reference: Shorthand Character Classes

Feature	Syntax	Description	Example	JGsoft	.NET	Java	Perl	PCRE	PCRE2	PHP	Delphi	R	JavaScript	VBScript	XRegExp	Python	Ruby	std::regex	Boost	Tcl ARE	POSIX BRE	POSIX ERE	GNU BRE	GNU ERE	Oracle	XML	XPath
Shorthand	Any shorthand outside character classes	Shorthands can be used outside character classes.	`\w` matches a single word character	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	ECMA	ECMA extended egrep awk	YES	n/a	n/a	YES	YES	10gR2	YES	YES
Shorthand	Any shorthand inside a character class	Shorthands can be used inside character classes.	`[\w]` matches a single word character	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	ECMA	YES	YES	n/a	n/a	no	no	no	YES	YES
Shorthand	Any negated shorthand inside a character class	Negated shorthands can be used inside character classes.	`[\W]` matches a single character that is not a word character	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	ECMA	YES	error	n/a	n/a	no	no	no	YES	YES
Shorthand	`\d`	Adds all digits to the character class. Matches a single digit if used outside character classes.	`[\d]` and/or `\d` match a character that is a digit	Unicode	non‑ECMA Unicode	ASCII	Unicode	ASCII	ASCII	5.3.4 Unicode 5.0.0 ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	3.0 Unicode 2.4 ASCII	ASCII	ECMA Unicode	Unicode	Unicode	no	no	no	no	10gR2 Unicode	Unicode	Unicode
Shorthand	`\w`	Adds all word characters to the character class. Matches a single word character if used outside character classes.	`[\w]` and/or `\w` match any single word character	Unicode	non‑ECMA Unicode	ASCII	Unicode	ASCII	ASCII	5.3.4 Unicode 5.0.0 code page	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	ASCII	3.0 Unicode 2.4 ASCII	ASCII	ECMA Unicode	Unicode	Unicode	no	no	ASCII	ASCII	10gR2 Unicode	Unicode	Unicode
Shorthand	`\s`	Adds all whitespace to the character class. Matches a single whitespace character if used outside character classes.	`[\s]` and/or `\s` match any single whitespace character	Unicode	non‑ECMA Unicode	ASCII	Unicode	ASCII	ASCII	5.3.4 Unicode 5.0.0 code page	ASCII	ASCII	Unicode	ASCII	Unicode	3.0 Unicode 2.4 ASCII	ASCII	ECMA Unicode	Unicode	Unicode	no	no	ASCII	ASCII	10gR2 Unicode	ASCII	ASCII
Shorthand	`\l` and `\u`	Adds all lowercase letters or all uppercase letters to the character class. Matches a single lowercase or uppercase letter if used outside character classes.	`\u\l` matches `Aa` but not `aA`.	V2 Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
Shorthand	`\v`	Adds all vertical whitespace to the character class. Matches a single vertical whitespace character if used outside character classes.	`[\v]` and/or `\v` match any single vertical whitespace character	V2 Unicode	no	8 Unicode	5.10 Unicode	7.2 Unicode	Unicode	5.2.4 Unicode	Unicode	Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	ECMA 1.42–1.85 Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
Shorthand	`\h`	Adds all horizontal whitespace to the character class. Matches a single horizontal whitespace character if used outside character classes.	`[\h]` and/or `\h` match any single horizontal whitespace character	V2 Unicode	no	8 Unicode	5.10 Unicode	7.2 Unicode	Unicode	5.2.4 Unicode	Unicode	Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	1.42–1.85 Unicode	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
Shorthand	`\h`	Adds all hexadecimal digits to the character class. Matches a hexadecimal digit if used outside character classes.	`[\h]` and/or `\h` match any single hexadecimal digit	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	1.9 ASCII	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no
XML Shorthand	`\i`	Adds all characters that are allowed as the initial character in XML names to the character class. Matches one such character if used outside character classes.	`\i\c*` matches an XML name	V2	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	YES	YES
XML Shorthand	`\c`	Adds all characters that are allowed as the second and following characters in XML names to the character class. Matches one such character if used outside character classes.	`\i\c*` matches an XML name	V2	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	no	YES	YES
Feature	Syntax	Description	Example	JGsoft	.NET	Java	Perl	PCRE	PCRE2	PHP	Delphi	R	JavaScript	VBScript	XRegExp	Python	Ruby	std::regex	Boost	Tcl ARE	POSIX BRE	POSIX ERE	GNU BRE	GNU ERE	Oracle	XML	XPath