Very simple generated markdown reference for REGEX Pattern Matching Shorthands and whatnot.
Basic Syntax
| Pattern | Description |
|---|
. | Matches any character except a newline |
^ | Start of a line |
$ | End of a line |
* | Matches 0 or more of the preceding character |
+ | Matches 1 or more of the preceding character |
? | Matches 0 or 1 of the preceding character |
{n} | Matches exactly n occurrences |
{n,} | Matches n or more occurrences |
{n,m} | Matches between n and m occurrences |
\ | Escapes special characters |
Character Classes
| Pattern | Description |
|---|
[abc] | Matches a, b, or c |
[^abc] | Matches any character except a, b, or c |
[a-z] | Matches any lowercase letter |
[A-Z] | Matches any uppercase letter |
[0-9] | Matches any digit |
\d | Matches any digit (same as [0-9]) |
\D | Matches any non-digit |
\w | Matches any word character (letters, numbers, underscore) |
\W | Matches any non-word character |
\s | Matches any whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines) |
\S | Matches any non-whitespace |
Groups & References
| Pattern | Description |
|---|
(abc) | Capturing group |
(?:abc) | Non-capturing group |
\1, \2 | Backreferences to captured groups |
(?<name>abc) | Named capturing group |
\k<name> | Reference to named group |
Assertions & Anchors
| Pattern | Description |
|---|
^ | Start of line |
$ | End of line |
\b | Word boundary |
\B | Not a word boundary |
(?=abc) | Positive lookahead |
(?!abc) | Negative lookahead |
(?<=abc) | Positive lookbehind (not all regex engines support this) |
(?<!abc) | Negative lookbehind |
Special Obsidian Use Cases
| Pattern | Description |
|---|
\[\[.*?\]\] | Matches Obsidian wiki-style links [[Link]] |
!\[.*?\]\(.*?\) | Matches embedded images  |
#\w+ | Matches a hashtag #tag |
- \[ \] | Matches an empty checkbox - [ ] |
- \[x\] | Matches a completed checkbox - [x] |
Examples
| Regex | Matches |
|---|
\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2} | Dates in YYYY-MM-DD format |
#[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+ | Obsidian tags |
!\[.*?\]\(.*?\) | Embedded images |
\[\[(.*?)\]\] | Wiki links and captures link text |
This sheet should help with most regex-related tasks in Obsidian, whether searching, replacing, or structuring notes!