The regular expression: (?-imsx:.*(\[*\w*\@*\-*\w*[$ #%>~]\]|\\\[\\e\[0m\\\] \[0m)\s?) matches as follows: NODE EXPLANATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?-imsx: group, but do not capture (case-sensitive) (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not matching \n) (matching whitespace and # normally): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[* '[' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \@* '@' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \-* '-' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [$ #%>~] any character of: '$', ' ', '#', '%', '>', '~' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \] ']' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- e 'e' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0m '0m' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \] ']' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0m '0m' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s? whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (optional (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The regular expression: (?-imsx:.*([$ #%>~]|\[*\w*\@*\-*\w*%\]*|\[*\w*\@*\-*\w*#\]*|\[*\w*\@*\-*\w*\$\]*|\[*\w*\@*\-*\w*>\]*|\\\[\\e\[0m\\\] \[0m)\s?) matches as follows: NODE EXPLANATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?-imsx: group, but do not capture (case-sensitive) (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not matching \n) (matching whitespace and # normally): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [$ #%>~] any character of: '$', ' ', '#', '%', '>', '~' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[* '[' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \@* '@' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \-* '-' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- % '%' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \]* ']' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[* '[' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \@* '@' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \-* '-' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- # '#' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \]* ']' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[* '[' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \@* '@' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \-* '-' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \$ '$' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \]* ']' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[* '[' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \@* '@' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \-* '-' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \w* word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _) (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > '>' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \]* ']' (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- e 'e' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0m '0m' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \\ '\' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \] ']' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \[ '[' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0m '0m' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s? whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (optional (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------