A Greedy quantifier will match the longest possible string (ie they consume as much input as possible) whereas Lazy quantifier will match the shortest possible string. Match as few as possible, repeat as few times as possible.
| Quantifier | ||
|---|---|---|
| * | Matches 0 or more occurrences of the preceding element. See Regexp - Star | ab*c matches ac, abc, abbc, abbbc, and so on |
| + | Matches 1 or more occurrences of the preceding element | ab+c matches abc, abbc, abbbc, and so on, but not ac |
| ? | Matches 0 or 1 occurrence of the preceding element | colou?r matches both color and colour |
| { | start min/max quantifier | |
| } | end min/max quantifier | |
| {m} | Matches exactly m times | |
| {m,} | Matches at least m times | |
| {m,n} | Matches at least m times but no more than n times | |
For example in the termhello
<em>Hello World</em>