Regex match for multiple characters

Question

I want to write a regex pattern to match a string starting with "Z" and not containing the next 2 characters as "IU" followed by any other characters.

I am using this pattern but it is not working Z[^(IU)]+.*$

1. ZISADR - should match
2. ZIUSADR - should not match
3. ZDDDDR - should match

Answer 1

Try this regex:

^Z(?:I[^U]|[^I]).*$

Click for Demo

Explanation:

• ^ - asserts the start of the line
• Z - matches Z
• I[^U] - matches I followed by any character that is not a U
• | - OR
• [^I] - matches any character that is not a I
• .* - matches 0+ occurrences of any character that is not a new line
• $ - asserts the end of the line