Regex Escape
Escape and unescape regex special chars
Choose escape or unescape and convert the text first; strict validation and extra options are available in Advanced mode.
The full guide also includes pitfalls, worked examples, snippets, FAQs, and related tools for checking results or troubleshooting.
About this tool
Backslash-escape common regex operators, optionally including slash, or undo that same set of escapes. It produces pattern text rather than a quoted JavaScript string or full RegExp.escape output. Strict unescape checks this tool’s supported escape pairs, not full regex syntax; input and options are stored as a local draft.
Production Snippets
Literal filename and supported inverse conversion
text
Escape: file.name+(2026).txt
Output: file\.name\+\(2026\)\.txt
Unescape that output: file.name+(2026).txt
Strict unescape of \d: unsupported; not a regex validity judgmentFrequently Asked Questions
When does basic escaping help?
Use it to treat characters such as . + ( ) [ ] and backslash literally in a standalone pattern. For arbitrary dynamic fragments, character classes or concatenation after other escapes, use the target language’s full literal-escaping API and test the final pattern.
Should I enable escape slash?
Enable it when pasting a pattern into a JavaScript /.../ literal, where slash is a delimiter. A RegExp constructor does not use slash delimiters; JavaScript string quotes and backslashes still need their own source-code escaping.
What does strict unescape reject?
It accepts backslash pairs only for the operators this tool escapes, plus slash. It rejects other sequences such as \d, \n and a trailing backslash. Some rejected sequences are valid regex syntax; they are simply outside this conversion’s scope.
Can it recover arbitrary regexes as plain text?
No. It removes only supported literal escapes. Quantifiers, groups, character classes and semantic escapes are not evaluated or decoded, so it is not a general inverse of regex compilation.
Is the input saved?
Conversion is local and the page retains text and options in a browser draft. Clear removes the saved input. Avoid leaving sensitive literal search strings in a shared browser profile.
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