Char Description Meaning
Backslash Used to escape a special character
^ Caret Beginning of a string
$ Dollar sign End of a string
. Period or dot Matches any single character
| Vertical bar or pipe symbol Matches previous OR next character/group
? Question mark Match zero or one of the previous
* Asterisk or star Match zero, one or more of the previous
+ Plus sign Match one or more of the previous
( ) Opening and closing parenthesis Group characters
[ ] Opening and closing square bracket Matches a range of characters
{ } Opening and closing curly brace Matches a specified number of occurrences of the previous