Generate PowerShell code from a regex
Drop a pattern in, pick flags, and get a PowerShell snippet — -match operator, $Matches automatic variable, -replace, [regex]::Matches, [regex]::Split, and a Select-String example.
$input = 'Reach alice@example.com or bob@test.org.'
$pattern = '\\b\\w+@\\w+\\.\\w+\\b'
# Single match test
$isMatch = $input -cmatch $pattern
"isMatch: $isMatch"
# First match (with capture groups in $Matches)
if ($input -cmatch $pattern) {
"first: $($Matches[0])"
}
# All matches via .NET regex
$opts = [System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions]::None
$all = [regex]::Matches($input, $pattern, $opts)
"all: " + ($all | ForEach-Object { $_.Value }) -join ", "
# Replace
$replaced = $input -creplace $pattern, '[email]'
"replaced: $replaced"
# Split
$parts = [regex]::Split($input, $pattern, $opts)
"parts: " + ($parts -join " | ")
# Search a file
# Select-String -Path .\file.txt -Pattern $pattern -AllMatchesHow to use a regex in PowerShell
PowerShell wraps .NET's System.Text.RegularExpressions. Operators like -match, -replace, -split all use regex by default.
- 01
Type a pattern
Single-quoted strings preserve backslashes literally — no double-escaping needed. The tool defaults to single-quoted output.
Patterns are parsed with the JavaScript RegExp constructor, so syntax errors surface immediately and engine quirks like Unicode property escapes (\p{L}) require the u flag.
patternECMAScriptliteralregexinput · literalpattern · regex'\b\w+@\w+\b'
loaded · ECMAScripttarget · ready - 02
Tune flags
PowerShell has case-sensitive (-cmatch, -creplace) and case-insensitive (-imatch, -ireplace, default -match) variants. Other flags via RegexOptions enum.
Each flag character mirrors the ECMAScript literal: g enables iteration, i folds case, m anchors per line, s lets . match newlines, u unlocks proper Unicode, y is sticky, and d emits indices.
flagssampleg · i · mliveconfig · optionsflags · flags-imatch
flags applied · livelive · preview - 03
Read the snippet
Includes -match (boolean + $Matches), [regex]::Matches (all), -replace, [regex]::Split, and a Select-String example for file search.
The generator rewrites the regex for the target language — handling string-literal escaping, raw-string prefixes, and engine-specific syntax tweaks.
codegentargetsnippetcopyrun · outputpreview · code$str -match $pat
snippet · livecode · ready - 04
Copy code
One click copies the full script — paste into a .ps1 file or run interactively in pwsh.
Copy writes via navigator.clipboard.writeText, so nothing transits the network and the output is byte-identical to what you see on screen.
copyexportclipboardblobexport · exportedready · savedCopied
ready to shipsuccess
Regex patterns that don't melt down
Use named groups
(?<year>\d{4}) reads better than $1 and survives reordering. Supported in ECMAScript 2018+.
Anchor strictly
Use ^/$ with the m flag when matching whole lines. Without anchors, partial matches sneak through.
Avoid catastrophic backtracking
Nested quantifiers like (a+)+ can explode. Run patterns through ReDoS Detector first.
Escape every literal
Backslash any meta character you want literally: \.\$\^\*\+\?\(\)\[\]\{\}\|\\.
Test edge cases
Empty string, single character, unicode, the maximum length you expect — write fixtures for each.
Patterns aren’t parsers
Don’t parse HTML, JSON, or balanced parens with regex. Use a proper parser when the grammar is recursive.
When to generate PowerShell regex code
Skip the boilerplate when wiring a pattern into a deploy script, Windows automation, or Exchange admin task.
Log scanning
Use Select-String over IIS logs to extract user agents or status codes. Compiles through the JavaScript RegExp constructor — engine quirks (Unicode property escapes, sticky matching, named groups) work when their flags are on. Error messages cite the exact position of any syntax issue.
ReDoS-safeAD queries
Filter Get-ADUser results with -match on a property pattern. Pairs with the ReDoS detector to catch catastrophic backtracking before you deploy. A pattern that handles 1k-character input fine can become a denial-of-service vector on attacker-controlled 1M-character input.
ECMA-compliantConfig validation
Pipe Get-Content into -match before applying changes with Set-Content. Output exports as JavaScript, Python re, Java util.regex, .NET System.Text.RegularExpressions, PCRE, and POSIX — language quirks are highlighted on conversion so you don't ship a JS-only pattern to a Go service.
spec-gradeExchange / O365
Validate addresses with -match before bulk operations on mailboxes. Capture groups (named or numbered) round-trip cleanly into replacement strings, JSON output, or CSV extraction without re-typing. Backreferences ($1, ${name}) preserve semantics across languages.
cross-engineDSC resources
Parse PowerShell DSC config files with regex extraction. Test against edge cases — empty input, single character, max length, multibyte boundaries — to catch off-by-one and zero-length match bugs before they reach production.
test-readyDeploy pipelines
Inspect Azure DevOps pipeline outputs with $env:VAR -match. All matching runs client-side so secret patterns never leave the browser. Useful when the pattern itself is sensitive (PII regexes, internal data formats, security filters).
production-readyFrequently asked questions
Something missing?
Tell us what you need. We ship the top requests every two weeks.