Generate Rust code from a regex
Drop a pattern in, pick flags, and get a regex-crate snippet — is_match, find, find_iter, captures, replace_all, split — using raw string literals so backslashes stay readable.
use regex::Regex;
fn main() {
let input = r"Reach alice@example.com or bob@test.org.";
let re = Regex::new(r"\\b\\w+@\\w+\\.\\w+\\b").unwrap();
let is_match = re.is_match(input);
let first = re.find(input).map(|m| m.as_str());
let all: Vec<&str> = re.find_iter(input).map(|m| m.as_str()).collect();
let caps = re.captures(input);
let replaced = re.replace_all(input, r"[email]");
let parts: Vec<&str> = re.split(input).collect();
println!("is_match: {}", is_match);
println!("first: {:?}", first);
println!("all: {:?}", all);
println!("captures: {:?}", caps);
println!("replaced: {}", replaced);
println!("parts: {:?}", parts);
}How to use a regex in Rust
Rust's regex crate is the RE2-style standard — linear-time, no backtracking. Raw strings (r"…") keep backslashes literal.
- 01
Add the regex crate
regex = "1" in your Cargo.toml. The output snippet uses Regex::new which returns a Result — unwrap is fine for hard-coded patterns.
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 · regexRegex::new(r"\b…")
loaded · ECMAScripttarget · ready - 02
Tune flags
Rust has no flag arg — flags are inline. JS i/m/s/u/x map to (?i), (?m), (?s), (?u), (?x). Combine them: (?im).
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(?im)
flags applied · livelive · preview - 03
Read the snippet
Includes is_match (bool), find (first Match), find_iter (every match), captures (groups), replace_all, and split — all in a runnable main function.
The generator rewrites the regex for the target language — handling string-literal escaping, raw-string prefixes, and engine-specific syntax tweaks.
codegentargetsnippetcopyrun · outputpreview · codere.find_iter(input)
snippet · livecode · ready - 04
Copy code
One click copies the full main — paste into a .rs file and cargo run.
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 Rust regex code
Skip the boilerplate when wiring a pattern into an Actix/Axum service, a CLI tool, or an embedded matcher.
Axum route guards
Use is_match in a middleware before dispatching. 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-saferipgrep extensions
Filter rg output with a generated regex in a downstream tool. 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-compliantCLI parsing
Add regex flags to a clap-based CLI for grep-like behaviour. 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-gradeWASM matchers
Compile to wasm32 and run in-browser without engine differences. 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-engineLexer hot paths
Pre-compile a lazy_static! Regex at the top of a parser module. 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-readyLog forwarders
Match log lines in Vector or other Rust-based observability tools. 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
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