Regex total limit number of total characters

Question

I am using regex to assert that my string is a combination of a maximum of 4 numbers separated by commas, the numbers must be between 1 and 4. Examples of valid strings would be :

1,2,3
1,2
1
1,2,3,4
4,1

To achieve this i am using ^[1-4](,[1-4])*$, but i am not able to limit the number of characters on the string. so in my implementation the following string is also valid 1,2,3,4,2,3 which is against what i am trying to achieve.

Have you tried something like `{0,3}` instead of `*`? Also I think you have one `)` too many in that example. — Manfred Radlwimmer, Jul 25 '19 at 09:26

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:30

1

You can try this：

^[1-4](,[1-4]){0,3}$

answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:30

Oliver Hao

715
3
5

2

Or better discard the groups and just check whether its matching by using `^[1-4](?:,[1-4]){0,3}$` regex [`here`](https://regex101.com/r/tiQwf8/1) – Kunal Mukherjee Jul 25 '19 at 09:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:29

0

this should do:

^[1-4](,[1-4]{1}){0,3}$

answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:29

IWHKYB

481
3
11

3

The `{1}`s are completely unnecessary. – Manfred Radlwimmer Jul 25 '19 at 09:30
Can you explain what that code does? For people starting to learn regular expressions, this can help a lot – Nico Haase Jul 25 '19 at 11:40

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:29

0

Here is your regex : ^[1-4](,[1-4]){0,3}$. You can test it here.

answered Jul 25 '19 at 09:29

Hadrien K.

161
1
14

Regex total limit number of total characters

3 Answers3