| | . | matches any single character |
| | [ ] | any one of the characters inside the brackets, or a range like a-z |
| | [^ ] | any character except one of those inside the brackets |
| | ^ | start of a line |
| | $ | end of a line |
| | \( \) | enclosed text replaces \1 (to \9 if several) in the Replace With string |
| | \~ | no match if following character occurs |
| | \~\( \) | no match if enclosed characters occur |
| | * | none or more of the preceding character or expression |
| | + | one or more of the preceding character or expression |
| | \! | match if match character or expression on either side - may extend list |
| | \{ \} | expression which is the enclosed text - follow with * or + |
| | \:a | any alphanumeric character - short for [a-zA-Z0-9] |
| | \:b | any whitespace character - space or tab (but not end of line) |
| | \:c | any alphabetic character - short for [a-zA-Z] |
| | \:d | any digit - marginally short for [0-9] |
| | \:n | any unsigned number - short for \{[0-9]+\.[0-9]*\![0-9]*\.[0-9]+\![0-9]+\} |
| | \:z | any unsigned integer - short for [0-9]+ |
| | \:h | any hexadecimal number - short for [0-9a-fA-F]+ |
| | \:i | any C++ identifier - short for [a-zA-Z_$][a-zA-Z0-9_$]+ |
| | \:w | any alphabetic string - short for[a-zA-Z]+ |
| | \:q | any quoted string - short for \{"[^"]*"\!'[^']*'\} |
| | \. | literal . and similarly for
\\ \^ \$ \* \+
(but \~ is invalid) |
- note that it is not possible to test for any control or unusual character, except for tab as part of whitespace,
and start/end of line, except by pasting the character into the search string.
