# regex **URL:** \ **Category:** PowerShell Help\ **Created:** [March 21, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239 "2019-03-21T13:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kardock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/779978/32.png) [@kardock](https://forums.powershell.org/u/kardock)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/1 "2019-03-21T13:18:17Z")
hi all, I’m new to regex and I’m trying a simple one to see how they work. My simple regex is “(\w+@\w+\w+)” to be able to capture some email from a big text. I’ve created a text file, put into it a big chunk of random text, and inserted an email at 2 spots in there. When I compare the file’s content to my regex, -match shows me the 2 lines with the email but what I see is the whole line, not the email I was looking for. If I do $matches, I see no match. Can someone please explain what I am doing wrong? $file = get-content file.txt $regex = “(\w+@\w+\w+)” $file -match $regex Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![js2010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ebca7d/32.png) [@js2010](https://forums.powershell.org/u/js2010)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/2 "2019-03-21T13:48:55Z")
I think you want to go through the file one line at a time. -match works differently with an array. ``` foreach ($line in $file) { $line -match $regex $matches } True Name Value ---- ----- 1 js@powershell 0 js@powershell ``` ---
**Author:** ![bo1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/bo1/32/33_2.png) [@bo1](https://forums.powershell.org/u/bo1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/3 "2019-03-21T14:17:41Z")
I would recommend using the [regex] accelerator. It allows the user to tap directly into .NET Regex, its faster and more efficient than using native PS to loop through data. ``` $text = Get-Content -Path C:\TEMP\PSdotorg_deleteMe.txt $regex = "(\w+\@\w+\w+)" [regex]::Matches($text,$regex) Groups : {0, 1} Success : True Name : 0 Captures : {0} Index : 0 Length : 10 Value : this@email Groups : {0, 1} Success : True Name : 0 Captures : {0} Index : 133 Length : 13 Value : another@email ``` ---
**Author:** ![bo1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/bo1/32/33_2.png) [@bo1](https://forums.powershell.org/u/bo1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/4 "2019-03-21T14:23:38Z")
Another recommendation is to use [RegEx101.com](https://regex101.com/) to double check your syntax. I personally find it easier to test with than running through PS to get it right, but to each their own. ``` $regex = "(\w+@\w+\.\w+)" ``` That regex will return the entire email address, including the .xyz ---
**Author:** ![js2010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ebca7d/32.png) [@js2010](https://forums.powershell.org/u/js2010)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/5 "2019-03-21T14:51:58Z")
Even that pattern won’t work on emails with more than one ‘.’. ``` PS C:\users\js> 'js@www.powershell.org' -match "(\w+@\w+\.\w+)"; $matches True Name Value ---- ----- 1 js@www.powershell 0 js@www.powershell ``` ---
**Author:** ![bo1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/bo1/32/33_2.png) [@bo1](https://forums.powershell.org/u/bo1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 6:37pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/6 "2019-03-21T18:37:35Z")
You are correct, unconventional formatting in the domain hadn’t occurred to me! The below expression accounts for that, provided of course there are no digits in use before the @. 🙂 ``` $regex = '\w+@.+?(?=\s)' [regex]::Matches($text,$regex) Groups : {0} Success : True Name : 0 Captures : {0} Index : 0 Length : 17 Value : email@address.com Groups : {0} Success : True Name : 0 Captures : {0} Index : 150 Length : 27 Value : another@email.different.com Groups : {0} Success : True Name : 0 Captures : {0} Index : 222 Length : 47 Value : whatTheHeck@www.why.onearth.areyoudoingthis.com ``` ---
**Author:** ![Olaf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/olaf/32/992_2.png) [@Olaf](https://forums.powershell.org/u/Olaf)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2019, 7:49pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/7 "2019-03-21T19:49:22Z")
An email address might be the wrong choice for a regex beginner … even when most of the people think that an email address is easy to recognize. This site illustrates a little bit of what I mean: [http://emailregex.com/](http://emailregex.com/). ---
**Author:** ![kardock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/779978/32.png) [@kardock](https://forums.powershell.org/u/kardock)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2019, 6:00am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/8 "2019-03-22T06:00:18Z")
ok I will experiment with what you guys gave me and I believe I’ll be good. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![postanote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@postanote](https://forums.powershell.org/u/postanote)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/9 "2019-03-22T17:26:27Z")
Messing with text with email strings. ``` $UrlList = @' this is the URL https://stackoverflow.com/&20% http://stackoverflow.com http://www.SomeSite.com this is oure main site http://www.SomeSite.com ftp://www.somesite.com ftp://somesite.com ftp\SomeSite.com If you want the file go there: file://SomeSite.com '@ [RegEx]::Matches($UrlList, '(ftp:|ftp|http:|https:|file:)(//.([^\s]+)|\\.([^\s]+))').value https://stackoverflow.com/&20% http://stackoverflow.com http://www.SomeSite.com http://www.SomeSite.com ftp://www.somesite.com ftp://somesite.com ftp\SomeSite.com file://SomeSite.com ``` ---
**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/regex/12239/10 "2024-05-16T20:33:06Z")