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My input number is an int. But the input number must be in a range from -2055 to 2055 and I want to check this by using regular expression.

So is there anyway to write a regular expression to check whether a number is in (-2055, 2055) or not ?

It is easier to use if statement to check whether the number is in range or not. But I'm writing an interpreter so I should use regex to check the input number

rudolph9
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Trung Nguyen
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    Why a regex? It's much easier to use a `` operator, isn't it? – ProgramFOX Mar 02 '14 at 16:49
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    All of the regex solutions are incomplete/wrong at the moment. This might give you an insight into why a regex is not the right tool for this job. Especially if you had to change the range later on... – Tim Pietzcker Mar 02 '14 at 17:15
  • You are right Tim! Trung, Tim have reason. It´s not about easier or harder, it´s about to use what it´s better to achieve and solve the problem. – Oscar Bralo Mar 02 '14 at 17:21
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    I'm writing an interpreter in OCaml .... how can i validate the input number within the range without using regex ?? – Trung Nguyen Mar 02 '14 at 17:30
  • @TimPietzcker I have submitted two regexes that are absolutely valid. One is slow and silly, the other serious, but they are both solid regex solutions. – aliteralmind Mar 02 '14 at 17:50
  • I do agree that regex is not the right tool for the job, when a simple *if-greater-than-and-less-than* would suffice, but it certainly is possible. – aliteralmind Mar 02 '14 at 18:02
  • @aliteralmind: Your silly version is correct, the other one might (depending on the regex engine being used) match incorrectly because for example in .NET, `\d` matches a *lot* more than just the digits `0-9`. – Tim Pietzcker Mar 02 '14 at 18:21
  • @TimPietzcker: I've changed the `\d`s to `[0-9]`. Thanks. – aliteralmind Mar 02 '14 at 18:25
  • ours is not to reason why. that's the beauty of stackoverflow - answers even to questions which seem ridiculous. good advice should always be given though, as it has been here - although perhaps a bit more forcefully than what i'm used to seeing on this site. – dewd Mar 23 '14 at 17:30
  • @aliteralmind - you mean "by clicking on the grey checkmark". It doesn't turn green until Trung takes action... – Floris Apr 25 '14 at 13:45
  • @Floris: It's always green to me ;) – aliteralmind Apr 25 '14 at 13:56
  • @TrungNguyen Please have a look at my post also. – Braj Apr 28 '14 at 21:19
  • @TrungNguyen There are other ways in OCaml! I have [posted an OCaml-anwser](http://stackoverflow.com/a/23384594/3239833). – SebastianH Apr 30 '14 at 09:38
  • I'll point out that though a regex is a terrible way to describe an integer range, actually _doing_ the range check with a deterministic finite automaton (DFA, which is the most efficient recognizer of regular sets) is a fine idea. The DFA is likely to be faster than converting digits to a binary integer. In an application like IP range checking in a firewall where performance is critical, this can be important. I realize this is probably not the OP's intended use case, but just saying... – Gene Apr 30 '14 at 17:03
  • possible duplicate of [Regular Expression: Numeric range](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1377926/regular-expression-numeric-range) – Saullo G. P. Castro May 09 '14 at 09:18
  • I created [to-regex-range](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/to-regex-range#usage) to automate this, if anyone is interested in a javascript implementation. – jonschlinkert Oct 13 '16 at 13:15
  • I have created a java-based implementation which automatically generates regular expressions that only accepts integers within a certain range https://github.com/julianthome/ranger – Julian Dec 20 '17 at 14:18

11 Answers11

90

Using regular expressions to validate a numeric range

To be clear: When a simple if statement will suffice

if(num < -2055  ||  num > 2055)  {
   throw  new IllegalArgumentException("num (" + num + ") must be between -2055 and 2055");
}

using regular expressions for validating numeric ranges is not recommended.

In addition, since regular expressions analyze strings, numbers must first be translated to a string before they can be tested. An exception is when the number happens to already be a string, such as when getting user input from the console.

(To ensure the string is a number to begin with, you could use org.apache.commons.lang3.math.NumberUtils#isNumber(s))

Despite this, figuring out how to validate number ranges with regular expressions is interesting and instructive.

(The links in this answer come from the Stack Overflow Regular Expressions FAQ.)

A one number range

Rule: A number must be exactly 15.

The simplest range there is. A regex to match this is

\b15\b

Word boundaries are necessary to avoid matching the 15 inside of 8215242.

A two number range

The rule: The number must be between 15 and 16. Here are three possible regexes:

\b(15|16)\b
\b1(5|6)\b
\b1[5-6]\b

(The groups are required for the "or"-ing, but they could be non-capturing: \b(?:15|16)\b)

A number range "mirrored" around zero

The rule: The number must be between -12 and 12.

Here is a regex for 0 through 12, positive-only:

\b(\d|1[0-2])\b

Free-spaced:

\b(         //The beginning of a word (or number), followed by either
   \d       //   Any digit 0 through 9
|           //Or
   1[0-2]   //   A 1 followed by any digit between 0 and 2.
)\b         //The end of a word

Making this work for both negative and positive is as simple as adding an optional dash at the start:

-?\b(\d|1[0-2])\b

(This assumes no inappropriate characters precede the dash.)

To forbid negative numbers, a negative lookbehind is necessary:

(?<!-)\b(\d|1[0-2])\b

Leaving the lookbehind out would cause the 11 in -11 to match. (The first example in this post should have this added.)

Note: \d versus [0-9]

In order to be compatible with all regex flavors, all \d-s should be changed to [0-9]. For example, .NET considers non ASCII numbers, such as those in different languages, as legal values for \d. Except for in the last example, for brevity, it's left as \d.

(With thanks to @TimPietzcker)

Three digits, with all but the first digit equal to zero

Rule: Must be between 0 and 400.

A possible regex:

(?<!-)\b([1-3]?\d{1,2}|400)\b

Free spaced:

   (?<!-)          //Something not preceded by a dash
   \b(             //Word-start, followed by either
      [1-3]?       //   No digit, or the digit 1, 2, or 3
         \d{1,2}   //   Followed by one or two digits (between 0 and 9)
   |               //Or
      400          //   The number 400
   )\b             //Word-end

Another possibility that should never be used:

\b(0|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|31|32|33|34|35|36|37|38|39|40|41|42|43|44|45|46|47|48|49|50|51|52|53|54|55|56|57|58|59|60|61|62|63|64|65|66|67|68|69|70|71|72|73|74|75|76|77|78|79|80|81|82|83|84|85|86|87|88|89|90|91|92|93|94|95|96|97|98|99|100|101|102|103|104|105|106|107|108|109|110|111|112|113|114|115|116|117|118|119|120|121|122|123|124|125|126|127|128|129|130|131|132|133|134|135|136|137|138|139|140|141|142|143|144|145|146|147|148|149|150|151|152|153|154|155|156|157|158|159|160|161|162|163|164|165|166|167|168|169|170|171|172|173|174|175|176|177|178|179|180|181|182|183|184|185|186|187|188|189|190|191|192|193|194|195|196|197|198|199|200|201|202|203|204|205|206|207|208|209|210|211|212|213|214|215|216|217|218|219|220|221|222|223|224|225|226|227|228|229|230|231|232|233|234|235|236|237|238|239|240|241|242|243|244|245|246|247|248|249|250|251|252|253|254|255|256|257|258|259|260|261|262|263|264|265|266|267|268|269|270|271|272|273|274|275|276|277|278|279|280|281|282|283|284|285|286|287|288|289|290|291|292|293|294|295|296|297|298|299|300|301|302|303|304|305|306|307|308|309|310|311|312|313|314|315|316|317|318|319|320|321|322|323|324|325|326|327|328|329|330|331|332|333|334|335|336|337|338|339|340|341|342|343|344|345|346|347|348|349|350|351|352|353|354|355|356|357|358|359|360|361|362|363|364|365|366|367|368|369|370|371|372|373|374|375|376|377|378|379|380|381|382|383|384|385|386|387|388|389|390|391|392|393|394|395|396|397|398|399|400)\b

Final example: Four digits, mirrored around zero, that does not end with zeros.

Rule: Must be between -2055 and 2055

This is from a question on stackoverflow.

Regex:

(-?\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{3}|[1-9][0-9]{0,2}|(?<!-)0+))\b

Regular expression visualization

Debuggex Demo

Free-spaced:

(             //Capture group for the entire number
   -?\b             //Optional dash, followed by a word (number) boundary
   (?:20            //Followed by "20", which is followed by one of 
         (?:5[0-5]        //50 through 55
           |                  //or
         [0-4][0-9])      //00 through 49
      |                                         //or
         1[0-9]{3}        //a one followed by any three digits
      |                                         //or
         [1-9][0-9]{0,2}  //1-9 followed by 0 through 2 of any digit
      |                                         //or
         (?<!-)0+         //one-or-more zeros *not* preceded by a dash
   )                 //end "or" non-capture group
)\b            //End number capture group, followed by a word-bound

(With thanks to PlasmaPower and Casimir et Hippolyte for the debugging assistance.)

Final note

Depending on what you are capturing, it is likely that all sub-groups should be made into non-capture groups. For example, this:

(-?\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1?[0-9]{1,3})\b)

Instead of this:

-?\b(20(5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1?[0-9]{1,3})\b

Example Java implementation

  import  java.util.Scanner;
  import  java.util.regex.Matcher;
  import  java.util.regex.Pattern;
  import  org.apache.commons.lang.math.NumberUtils;
/**
  <P>Confirm a user-input number is a valid number by reading a string an testing it is numeric before converting it to an it--this loops until a valid number is provided.</P>

  <P>{@code java UserInputNumInRangeWRegex}</P>
 **/
public class UserInputNumInRangeWRegex  {
  public static final void main(String[] ignored)  {

     int num = -1;
     boolean isNum = false;

     int iRangeMax = 2055;

     //"": Dummy string, to reuse matcher
     Matcher mtchrNumNegThrPos = Pattern.compile("(-?\\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{3}|[1-9][0-9]{0,2}|(?<!-)0+))\\b").matcher("");

     do  {
        System.out.print("Enter a number between -" + iRangeMax + " and " + iRangeMax + ": ");
        String strInput = (new Scanner(System.in)).next();
        if(!NumberUtils.isNumber(strInput))  {
           System.out.println("Not a number. Try again.");
        }  else if(!mtchrNumNegThrPos.reset(strInput).matches())  {
           System.out.println("Not in range. Try again.");
        }  else  {
           //Safe to convert
           num = Integer.parseInt(strInput);
           isNum = true;
        }
     }  while(!isNum);

     System.out.println("Number: " + num);
  }

}

Output

[C:\java_code\]java UserInputNumInRangeWRegex
Enter a number between -2055 and 2055: tuhet
Not a number. Try again.
Enter a number between -2055 and 2055: 283837483
Not in range. Try again.
Enter a number between -2055 and 2055: -200000
Not in range. Try again.
Enter a number between -2055 and 2055: -300
Number: -300

Original answer to this stackoverflow question

This is a serious answer that fits your specifications. It is similar to @PlasmaPower's answer.

(-?\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{3}|[1-9][0-9]{0,2}|(?<!-)0+))\b

Regular expression visualization

Debuggex Demo

Community
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aliteralmind
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  • Pretty sure it's solid now. – aliteralmind Mar 02 '14 at 18:36
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    This is now a [blog post](http://aliteralmind.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/regex_numeric_range/). – aliteralmind Apr 08 '14 at 15:57
  • This answer has been added to the [Stack Overflow Regular Expression FAQ](http://stackoverflow.com/a/22944075/2736496), under "Common Validation Tasks". – aliteralmind Apr 10 '14 at 01:20
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    Since you have made the 1 optional, you pattern will match `001` (leading zeros), `-0` (signed zero), I suggest to change third item of the alternation and to add new alternatives: `(-?\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{3}|[1-9][0-9]{0,2})|\b0)\b` – Casimir et Hippolyte Apr 25 '14 at 11:01
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    Thanks for the catch, @CasimiretHippolyte. Fixed. I changed it slightly, adding a negative lookbehind to avoid matching a 1+ zeros *next to* a dash (as opposed to `-0` entirely). I also moved the zero alternative into the main "or" non-capture group. – aliteralmind Apr 25 '14 at 13:13
  • Someone scraped this answer and put it into a...something! http://www.unlimitedtricks.com/using-regular-expressions-to-validate-a-numeric-range/ – aliteralmind Apr 30 '14 at 18:16
  • what would you suggest if I need to validate a number range from 18 to 75 ? – Dainius Kreivys Oct 26 '15 at 09:35
15

Don't ever use it, but this works. :)

\b(-2055|-2054|-2053|-2052|-2051|-2050|-2049|-2048|-2047|-2046|-2045|-2044|-2043|-2042|-2041|-2040|-2039|-2038|-2037|-2036|-2035|-2034|-2033|-2032|-2031|-2030|-2029|-2028|-2027|-2026|-2025|-2024|-2023|-2022|-2021|-2020|-2019|-2018|-2017|-2016|-2015|-2014|-2013|-2012|-2011|-2010|-2009|-2008|-2007|-2006|-2005|-2004|-2003|-2002|-2001|-2000|-1999|-1998|-1997|-1996|-1995|-1994|-1993|-1992|-1991|-1990|-1989|-1988|-1987|-1986|-1985|-1984|-1983|-1982|-1981|-1980|-1979|-1978|-1977|-1976|-1975|-1974|-1973|-1972|-1971|-1970|-1969|-1968|-1967|-1966|-1965|-1964|-1963|-1962|-1961|-1960|-1959|-1958|-1957|-1956|-1955|-1954|-1953|-1952|-1951|-1950|-1949|-1948|-1947|-1946|-1945|-1944|-1943|-1942|-1941|-1940|-1939|-1938|-1937|-1936|-1935|-1934|-1933|-1932|-1931|-1930|-1929|-1928|-1927|-1926|-1925|-1924|-1923|-1922|-1921|-1920|-1919|-1918|-1917|-1916|-1915|-1914|-1913|-1912|-1911|-1910|-1909|-1908|-1907|-1906|-1905|-1904|-1903|-1902|-1901|-1900|-1899|-1898|-1897|-1896|-1895|-1894|-1893|-1892|-1891|-1890|-1889|-1888|-1887|-1886|-1885|-1884|-1883|-1882|-1881|-1880|-1879|-1878|-1877|-1876|-1875|-1874|-1873|-1872|-1871|-1870|-1869|-1868|-1867|-1866|-1865|-1864|-1863|-1862|-1861|-1860|-1859|-1858|-1857|-1856|-1855|-1854|-1853|-1852|-1851|-1850|-1849|-1848|-1847|-1846|-1845|-1844|-1843|-1842|-1841|-1840|-1839|-1838|-1837|-1836|-1835|-1834|-1833|-1832|-1831|-1830|-1829|-1828|-1827|-1826|-1825|-1824|-1823|-1822|-1821|-1820|-1819|-1818|-1817|-1816|-1815|-1814|-1813|-1812|-1811|-1810|-1809|-1808|-1807|-1806|-1805|-1804|-1803|-1802|-1801|-1800|-1799|-1798|-1797|-1796|-1795|-1794|-1793|-1792|-1791|-1790|-1789|-1788|-1787|-1786|-1785|-1784|-1783|-1782|-1781|-1780|-1779|-1778|-1777|-1776|-1775|-1774|-1773|-1772|-1771|-1770|-1769|-1768|-1767|-1766|-1765|-1764|-1763|-1762|-1761|-1760|-1759|-1758|-1757|-1756|-1755|-1754|-1753|-1752|-1751|-1750|-1749|-1748|-1747|-1746|-1745|-1744|-1743|-1742|-1741|-1740|-1739|-1738|-1737|-1736|-1735|-1734|-1733|-1732|-1731|-1730|-1729|-1728|-1727|-1726|-1725|-1724|-1723|-1722|-1721|-1720|-1719|-1718|-1717|-1716|-1715|-1714|-1713|-1712|-1711|-1710|-1709|-1708|-1707|-1706|-1705|-1704|-1703|-1702|-1701|-1700|-1699|-1698|-1697|-1696|-1695|-1694|-1693|-1692|-1691|-1690|-1689|-1688|-1687|-1686|-1685|-1684|-1683|-1682|-1681|-1680|-1679|-1678|-1677|-1676|-1675|-1674|-1673|-1672|-1671|-1670|-1669|-1668|-1667|-1666|-1665|-1664|-1663|-1662|-1661|-1660|-1659|-1658|-1657|-1656|-1655|-1654|-1653|-1652|-1651|-1650|-1649|-1648|-1647|-1646|-1645|-1644|-1643|-1642|-1641|-1640|-1639|-1638|-1637|-1636|-1635|-1634|-1633|-1632|-1631|-1630|-1629|-1628|-1627|-1626|-1625|-1624|-1623|-1622|-1621|-1620|-1619|-1618|-1617|-1616|-1615|-1614|-1613|-1612|-1611|-1610|-1609|-1608|-1607|-1606|-1605|-1604|-1603|-1602|-1601|-1600|-1599|-1598|-1597|-1596|-1595|-1594|-1593|-1592|-1591|-1590|-1589|-1588|-1587|-1586|-1585|-1584|-1583|-1582|-1581|-1580|-1579|-1578|-1577|-1576|-1575|-1574|-1573|-1572|-1571|-1570|-1569|-1568|-1567|-1566|-1565|-1564|-1563|-1562|-1561|-1560|-1559|-1558|-1557|-1556|-1555|-1554|-1553|-1552|-1551|-1550|-1549|-1548|-1547|-1546|-1545|-1544|-1543|-1542|-1541|-1540|-1539|-1538|-1537|-1536|-1535|-1534|-1533|-1532|-1531|-1530|-1529|-1528|-1527|-1526|-1525|-1524|-1523|-1522|-1521|-1520|-1519|-1518|-1517|-1516|-1515|-1514|-1513|-1512|-1511|-1510|-1509|-1508|-1507|-1506|-1505|-1504|-1503|-1502|-1501|-1500|-1499|-1498|-1497|-1496|-1495|-1494|-1493|-1492|-1491|-1490|-1489|-1488|-1487|-1486|-1485|-1484|-1483|-1482|-1481|-1480|-1479|-1478|-1477|-1476|-1475|-1474|-1473|-1472|-1471|-1470|-1469|-1468|-1467|-1466|-1465|-1464|-1463|-1462|-1461|-1460|-1459|-1458|-1457|-1456|-1455|-1454|-1453|-1452|-1451|-1450|-1449|-1448|-1447|-1446|-1445|-1444|-1443|-1442|-1441|-1440|-1439|-1438|-1437|-1436|-1435|-1434|-1433|-1432|-1431|-1430|-1429|-1428|-1427|-1426|-1425|-1424|-1423|-1422|-1421|-1420|-1419|-1418|-1417|-1416|-1415|-1414|-1413|-1412|-1411|-1410|-1409|-1408|-1407|-1406|-1405|-1404|-1403|-1402|-1401|-1400|-1399|-1398|-1397|-1396|-1395|-1394|-1393|-1392|-1391|-1390|-1389|-1388|-1387|-1386|-1385|-1384|-1383|-1382|-1381|-1380|-1379|-1378|-1377|-1376|-1375|-1374|-1373|-1372|-1371|-1370|-1369|-1368|-1367|-1366|-1365|-1364|-1363|-1362|-1361|-1360|-1359|-1358|-1357|-1356|-1355|-1354|-1353|-1352|-1351|-1350|-1349|-1348|-1347|-1346|-1345|-1344|-1343|-1342|-1341|-1340|-1339|-1338|-1337|-1336|-1335|-1334|-1333|-1332|-1331|-1330|-1329|-1328|-1327|-1326|-1325|-1324|-1323|-1322|-1321|-1320|-1319|-1318|-1317|-1316|-1315|-1314|-1313|-1312|-1311|-1310|-1309|-1308|-1307|-1306|-1305|-1304|-1303|-1302|-1301|-1300|-1299|-1298|-1297|-1296|-1295|-1294|-1293|-1292|-1291|-1290|-1289|-1288|-1287|-1286|-1285|-1284|-1283|-1282|-1281|-1280|-1279|-1278|-1277|-1276|-1275|-1274|-1273|-1272|-1271|-1270|-1269|-1268|-1267|-1266|-1265|-1264|-1263|-1262|-1261|-1260|-1259|-1258|-1257|-1256|-1255|-1254|-1253|-1252|-1251|-1250|-1249|-1248|-1247|-1246|-1245|-1244|-1243|-1242|-1241|-1240|-1239|-1238|-1237|-1236|-1235|-1234|-1233|-1232|-1231|-1230|-1229|-1228|-1227|-1226|-1225|-1224|-1223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|1977|1978|1979|1980|1981|1982|1983|1984|1985|1986|1987|1988|1989|1990|1991|1992|1993|1994|1995|1996|1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002|2003|2004|2005|2006|2007|2008|2009|2010|2011|2012|2013|2014|2015|2016|2017|2018|2019|2020|2021|2022|2023|2024|2025|2026|2027|2028|2029|2030|2031|2032|2033|2034|2035|2036|2037|2038|2039|2040|2041|2042|2043|2044|2045|2046|2047|2048|2049|2050|2051|2052|2053|2054|2055)\b
aliteralmind
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Check out this great tool which generates a regex for numeric ranges:

http://gamon.webfactional.com/regexnumericrangegenerator/

For the range requested by OP it generates: -?([0-9]{1,3}|1[0-9]{3}|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])

Wiktor Stribiżew
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Joe
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Analyze the problem

If you "must" use a regex, break the problem down by analysing the accepted permutations.

"a range from -2055 to 2055" can be expressed as:

  • an optional -
  • optional leading zeros
  • followed by a number from 0 to 2055

"A number from 0 to 2055" can be one of a finite number of specific permutations:

  • one digit (0-9)
  • two digits (10-99)
  • three digits (100-999)
  • four digits starting with a 1 (1000-1999)
  • four digits starting with 20 (2000-204*9)
  • four digits starting with 205 (2050-2055*)

Note that for the purpose of this regex, it's not necessary to distinguish between the range "0-9" and "1-9", and only the last two ranges have any restrictions on the range of accepted digits/characters (indicated with a star).

Write component regex expressions

Each of the above component parts are easy to individually express as a regular expression:

  • -?
  • 0*
    • [0-9]
    • [0-9][0-9]
    • [0-9][0-9][0-9]
    • 1[0-9][0-9][0-9]
    • 20[0-4][0-9]
    • 205[0-5]

Put the expressions together

The relevant expression for the whole match would be:

-?0*([0-9]|[0-9][0-9]|[0-9][0-9][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9][0-9]|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])

Or slightly more concisely:

-?0*([0-9]{1,3}|1[0-9]{3}|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])

Assuming the input contains only "the number" and nothing else, the final regex is therefore:

^-?0*([0-9]{1,3}|1[0-9]{3}|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])$

If it's necessary to allow for a leading plus sign, this becomes:

^[-+]?0*([0-9]{1,3}|1[0-9]{3}|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])$

Here's a js fiddle demonstrating what passes and what would fails the last regex.

Community
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AD7six
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5

So many answers, but noone reads (or cares) about the OPs side question in the comments?

I'm writing an interpreter in OCaml .... how can i validate the input number within the range without using regex ?? – Trung Nguyen Mar 2 at 17:30

As so many answers - correctly - pointed out that using regex is horrible for this scenario, lets think about other ways in OCaml! It is a while since I used OCaml, but with looking up a few constructs I was able to knock this together:

let isInRange i = 
    not(i < -2055 or i > 2055);;

let isIntAndInRange s = 
    try
    let i = int_of_string s in
    not(i < -2055 or i > 2055)
    with Failure "int_of_string" -> false;;

let () = print_string "type a number: " in
let s = read_line () in
isIntAndInRange s

If anything about is unclear, please read up on its syntax, type conversion functions and exception handling and input-output functions.

The user input part is only used to demonstrate. It might be more convenient to use the read_int function there. But the basic concept of handling the exception stays the same.

SebastianH
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    Probably because comments aren't "the question", it shouldn't be necessary to read the comments. +1 anyway for an apparently appropriate solution in the (as yet untagged and unmentioned-in-the-question) language the OP is using. – AD7six Apr 30 '14 at 11:55
4

As an alternate approach to the great expression offered by aliteralmind, here is one that is much longer but interesting in order to see what another approach might look like (and what not to do).

It's an interesting exercise, because you can think of two distinct method: roughly, you can either:

  1. proceed by matching 4-char numbers, then 3-char numbers, etc.
  2. or proceed by matching the thousands digit, then the hundreds digit, etc.

Without trying, how would you know which is best? It turns out that the first approach (aliteralmind's answer) is far more economical.

Lower, I include a series of tests in the PHP language in case you or someone else would like to check the output.

Below, I will give you the regex in "free-spacing mode", which allows comments inside the regex so you can easily understand what it does. However, not all regex engines support free-spacing mode, so before we start with the interesting part, here is the regex as a one-liner.

Note that your question mentions numbers from -2055 to 2055. I assumed that you wanted to match "normal numbers", without leading zeroes. This means that the regex will match 999 but not 0999. If you would like leading zeroes, let me know, that is a very easy tweak.

Also, if you are matching in utf-8 mode, the \d should be replaced by [0-9]. This is the more common form.

The Regex as a One-Liner

^(?!-0$)-?(?:(?=\d{4}$)[12])?(?:(?=\d{3}$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=1)|(?<=-1))\d|(?:(?<=2)|(?<=-2))0))?(?:(?=\d{2}$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})(?<!20)|(?<=^-\d{2})(?<!-20))\d|(?:(?<=20)|(?<=-20))[0-5]))?(?:(?=\d$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})|(?<=^-\d{2})|(?<=^\d{3})(?<!205)|(?<=^-\d{3})(?<!-205))\d|(?:(?<=205)|(?<=-205))[0-5]))$

The Regex in Free-Spacing Mode

(?x)                # free-spacing mode
^                   # anchor at beginning of string.
(?!-0$)-?           # optional minus sign, but not for -0

(?:                 # OPTIONAL THOUSANDS DIGIT
(?=\d{4}$)[12]      # assert that the number is 4-digit long, match 1 or 2
)?                  # end optional thousands digit


(?:                 # OPTIONAL HUNDREDS DIGIT
(?=\d{3}$)          # assert that there are three digits left
(?:                 # non-capturing group
  (?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=1)|(?<=-1))\d    # if preceding chars are 1, -1 or head of string: value can be any digit
  |                      # or
  (?:(?<=2)|(?<=-2))0                # if preceding chars are 2 or -2: value must be 0
)                   # close non-capturing group
)?                  # end optional hundreds digits

(?:             # OPTIONAL TENS DIGIT
(?=\d{2}$)      # assert that there are two digits left
(?:             # start non-capturing group

                # if preceding char is head of string, single digit,
                # or two digits that are not 20
                # (with or without a minus)
                # value can be any digit
  (?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|
     (?<=^\d{2})(?<!20)|(?<=^-\d{2})(?<!-20))\d  
|               # or
(?:(?<=20)|(?<=-20))[0-5]  # if preceding chars are 20 or -20: value can be from 0 to 5

)               # end non-capturing group
)?              # close optional tens digits

(?:             # FINAL DIGIT (non optional)
(?=\d$)         # assert that there is only one digit left
(?:             # start non-capturing group

                # if preceding char is head of string, single digit, 
                # two digits, or three digits that are not 205
                # (with or without a minus)
                # value can be any digit
  (?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|
      (?<=^\d{2})|(?<=^-\d{2})|
      (?<=^\d{3})(?<!205)|(?<=^-\d{3})(?<!-205))
      \d
  |             # or
  (?:(?<=205)|(?<=-205))[0-5] # if preceding chars are 205 or -205: value can be from 0 to 5
)               # end non-capturing group
)               # end final digit
$

Series of Tests

These tests try to match against numbers from -100000 to 100000. They produce the following output:

Successful test: matches from -2055 to 2055
Successful test: NO matches from -100000 to -2056
Successful test: NO matches from 2056 to 100000

Here is the code:

<?php
$regex="~^(?!-0$)-?(?:(?=\d{4}$)[12])?(?:(?=\d{3}$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=1)|(?<=-1))\d|(?:(?<=2)|(?<=-2))0))?(?:(?=\d{2}$)(?:(?:(?<=20)|(?<=-20))[0-5]|(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})(?<!20)|(?<=^-\d{2})(?<!-20))\d))?(?:(?=\d$)(?:(?:(?<=205)|(?<=-205))[0-5]|(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})|(?<=^-\d{2})|(?<=^\d{3})(?<!205)|(?<=^-\d{3})(?<!-205))\d))$~";

// Test 1
$success="Successful test: matches from -2055 to 2055";
for($i=-2055;$i<=2055;$i++) {
$chari = sprintf("%d",$i);
if (! preg_match($regex,$chari)) {
    $success="Failed test: matches from -2055 to 2055";
    echo $chari.": No Match!<br />";
    }
}
echo $success."<br />";

// Test 2
$success="Successful test: NO matches from -100000 to -2056";
for($i=-100000;$i<=-2056;$i++) {
$chari = sprintf("%d",$i);
if (preg_match($regex,$chari)) {
    $success="Failed test: NO matches from -100000 to -2056";
    echo $chari.": Match!<br />";
    }
}
echo $success."<br />";

// Test 3
$success="Successful test: NO matches from 2056 to 100000";
for($i=2056;$i<=100000;$i++) {
$chari = sprintf("%d",$i);
if (preg_match($regex,$chari)) {
    $success="Failed test: NO matches from 2056 to 100000";
    echo $chari.": Match!<br />";
    }
}
echo $success."<br />";

?>

Speed Tests

Here is the output of my simple speed test, matching from -1M to +1M. As Casimir pointed out, if aliteralmind's expression were anchored, instead of being slower it would be faster by 25%!

zx81: 3.796217918396
aliteralmind: 3.9922280311584
difference: 5.1632998151294 percent longer

Here is the test code:

$regex="~(?x)^(?!-0$)-?(?:(?=\d{4}$)[12])?(?:(?=\d{3}$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=1)|(?<=-1))\d|(?:(?<=2)|(?<=-2))0))?(?:(?=\d{2}$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})(?<!20)|(?<=^-\d{2})(?<!-20))\d|(?:(?<=20)|(?<=-20))[0-5]))?(?:(?=\d$)(?:(?:(?<=^)|(?<=^-)|(?<=^\d)|(?<=^-\d)|(?<=^\d{2})|(?<=^-\d{2})|(?<=^\d{3})(?<!205)|(?<=^-\d{3})(?<!-205))\d|(?:(?<=205)|(?<=-205))[0-5]))$~";

$regex2 = "~(-?\b(?:20(?:5[0-5]|[0-4][0-9])|1[0-9]{3}|[1-9][0-9]{0,2}|(?<!-)0+))\b~";

$start=microtime(TRUE);
for ($i=-1000000;$i<1000000;$i++) preg_match($regex,$i);
$zxend=microtime(TRUE);
for ($i=-1000000;$i<1000000;$i++) preg_match($regex2,$i);
$alitend=microtime(TRUE);
$zx81 = $zxend-$start;
$alit = $alitend-$zxend;
$diff = 100*($alit-$zx81)/$zx81;
echo "zx81: ".$zx81."<br />";
echo "aliteralmind: ".$alit."<br />";
echo "difference: ".$diff." percent longer<br />";
zx81
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  • Your pattern seems faster only because you assume that the number is at the start of the string. The OP didn't precise that. If you add an anchor `^` to alitermind pattern, you will see a very different result. Adding an anchor to a pattern is the first optimisation point. – Casimir et Hippolyte Apr 26 '14 at 23:09
  • If you are interested about regex optimisation, you can find free old editions of the friedl's book on the net: http://books.google.fr/books/about/Mastering_Regular_Expressions.html?id=sshKXlr32-AC&redir_esc=y – Casimir et Hippolyte Apr 26 '14 at 23:15
  • Keep in mind that a subpattern in a lookaround takes the same time (at least) than the same subpattern outside a lookaround. However, another point of optimisation is to make a subpattern fail as fast as possible. – Casimir et Hippolyte Apr 26 '14 at 23:25
  • @CasimiretHippolyte I do own that book, thanks. You are right: with a caret anchor `^` the same test shows aliteralmind's regex to be 25% faster. – zx81 Apr 26 '14 at 23:28
  • A good task is to read simple patterns and to see the number of steps the regex engine must do (with regex101 (that is a little buggy) or regexbuddy at the beginning and without after) – Casimir et Hippolyte Apr 26 '14 at 23:33
  • @CasimiretHippolyte Yes. RB rules. Thanks for your advice. :) – zx81 Apr 26 '14 at 23:35
  • It's interesting to see such a different regex that achieves the same thing. +1. – aliteralmind Apr 30 '14 at 13:31
  • @literalmind Yes it's interesting to see what happens when you try to rigidly to match thousands, hundreds etc as opposed to a left-to-right approach. – zx81 Apr 30 '14 at 16:48
3

Why use Regex only to check a number?

int n = -2000;

if(n >= -2055 && n <= 2055)
//Do something
else
//Do something else
Oscar Bralo
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    may be you are accessing some content where you cant write code but can use regex e.g postman,vs code where you may want to search for an integer.in such cases regex is the only option – Mahesh Jamdade Apr 22 '20 at 04:59
  • Precisely the comment above by @maheshmnj. Trying to parse a command that takes values from 1 to 64 in a syntax highlighter that only takes regex. – AgentM Nov 11 '20 at 20:08
3

Try this:

\-?\b0*(205[0-5]|20[0-4]\d|1?\d{3}|\d{1,2})\b
PlasmaPower
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1

Try with a very simple regex.

^([-0][0-1][0-9][0-9][0-9])$|^([-0]20[0-4][0-9])$|^([-0]205[0-5])$

Visual representation

enter image description here

It's very simple to understand.

  • group 1 [-0][0-1][0-9][0-9][0-9] will cover [-1999, 1999] values
  • group 2 [-0]20[0-4][0-9] will cover [-2000,-2049] and [2000,2049] values
  • group 3 [-0]205[0-5] will cover [-2050, -2055] and [2050, 2055] values

String.format("%05d", number) is doing very well done job here?

Sample code: (Read inline comments for more clarity.)

int[] numbers = new int[] { -10002, -3000, -2056, -2055, -2000, -1999, -20, 
                            -1,  0, 1, 260, 1999, 2000, 2046, 2055, 2056, 2955, 
                             3000, 10002, 123456 };

//valid range -2055 to 2055 inclusive

Pattern p = Pattern.compile("^([-0][0-1][0-9][0-9][0-9])$|^([-0]20[0-4][0-9])$|^([-0]205[0-5])$");

for (int number : numbers) {
    String string = String.format("%05d", number);
    Matcher m = p.matcher(string);

    if (m.find()) {
        System.out.println(number + " is in range.");
    } else {
        System.out.println(number + " is not in range.");
    }
}

output:

-10002 is not in range.
-3000 is not in range.
-2056 is not in range.
-2055 is in range.
-2000 is in range.
-1999 is in range.
-20 is in range.
-1 is in range.
0 is in range.
1 is in range.
260 is in range.
1999 is in range.
2000 is in range.
2046 is in range.
2055 is in range.
2056 is not in range.
2955 is not in range.
3000 is not in range.
10002 is not in range.
123456 is not in range.
Braj
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  • Your regex does not work for all cases. For example: 2046 should be in range. – SF Lee Apr 30 '14 at 08:16
  • @SFLee Let me check. Thanks for noticing it. – Braj Apr 30 '14 at 08:21
  • BTW, I'm curious about your `[-0]`. It has to match either a `-` or a `0`, so numbers like `123` won't match, unless it's preceded with a `0`, as in `0123`... – SF Lee Apr 30 '14 at 08:30
  • @SFLee yes that's why I have used `String.format("%05d", number)`. – Braj Apr 30 '14 at 08:35
  • @SFLee I have modified my post. Now it's working fine for 2046 also. Thanks again for testing. – Braj Apr 30 '14 at 08:37
  • The OP is using the OCaml language, which does not have string.format. So it's best to provide a solution that uses pure regex. – SF Lee Apr 30 '14 at 08:39
0

Try this:

^-?0*(1?[0-9]{1,3}|20[0-4][0-9]|205[0-5])$

The regex before the brackets matches an optional - and any leading 0s.

The first part in the brackets (1?[0-9]{1,3}) matches 0-1999.

The second part in the brackets (20[0-4][0-9]) matches 2000-2049.

The third part in the brackets (205[0-5]) matches 2050-2055.

SF Lee
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0

Yet another -

 #  ^-?0*(?:20(?:[0-4][0-9]|5[0-5])|[0-9]{1,3})$

 ^ 
 -?
 0*
 (?:
      20
      (?:
           [0-4] [0-9] 
        |  
           5 [0-5] 
      )
   |  
      [0-9]{1,3} 
 )
 $