Regex - Match a string only when it contains any alphabetic characters

Question

example strings

785*()&!~`a

##$%$~2343

455frt&*&*

i want to capture the first and the third but not the second since it doesnt contain any alphabet character plz help

Answer 1

In fact, I think [a-zA-Z] might suffice to match your strings.

To capture the whole thing, try: ^.*[a-zA-Z].*$

Answer 2

Here is one possible way:

.*[a-zA-Z]+

Answer 3

You should maybe clarify a bit what you mean by 'catpuring': do you want the whole string of just the ascii bits?

Also, you don't say if it should match just plain Roman alphabet (A to Z) or if it should also match Unicode chars to match strings in other languages.

If you just need to test your string, in C# you would do:

bool matching = Regex.IsMatch(myString, "[a-zA-Z]");

You wouldn't need anything else, since just one letter anywhere in the myString string will match (according to your definition).

Answer 4

This is my favorite RegEx testing site: Javascript Regexp Tester and Cheat Sheet

Answer 5

If you want to match all letters (including non-ascii ones), use p{L} instead of [a-zA-Z]. See Unicode categories.