Help with a regex

Question

I have a regex that works: ABC-[0-9]+

I also have a regex: DEF-[0-9]+

But I don't get how to combine the two so it will match them both

I tried ABC-[0-9]+ | DEF-[0-9]+ but it didn't really work...

This is all in Java regex if it matters.

Any help's appreciated!

Answer 1

If you want a regular expression that matches sequences that start with either ABC or DEF, try this:

(ABC|DEF)-[0-9]+

But except from the two space characters around |, your regular expression should match that too:

ABC-[0-9]+|DEF-[0-9]+

These two regular expressions match the same set of strings.

Answer 2

You need to group the two regexes, use an atomic group:

(?>ABC-[0-9]+)|(?>DEF-[0-9]+)

Answer 3

Try (ABC-[0-9]+)|(DEF-[0-9]+)