Regex for URL Matching — 5 HTTP/HTTPS/URI Patterns | Free, In-Browser

URL Matching with Regex

Matching URLs is a frequent requirement in text processing, link extraction, and input validation. Here are patterns from simple to comprehensive.

Simple HTTP/HTTPS Pattern

https?://[\w.-]+(?:/[\w./?%&=-]*)?

This covers basic URLs with optional paths and query strings:

• https://example.com
• http://sub.domain.com/path/to/page
• https://api.example.com/v1/users?page=1&limit=10

Token Breakdown

Token	Purpose
https?	"http" or "https"
://	Protocol separator
[\w.-]+	Domain name (letters, digits, dots, hyphens)
(?:/[\w./?%&=-]*)?	Optional path and query string

More Comprehensive Pattern

For URLs with ports, authentication, and fragments:

https?://(?:[\w-]+(?::[\w-]+)?@)?[\w.-]+(?::\d{1,5})?(?:/[\w./?%&=#-]*)?

This additionally matches:

• Port numbers: https://localhost:3000/api
• Basic auth: https://user:pass@example.com
• Fragment identifiers: https://example.com/page#section

Extracting URL Components

Using named capture groups to extract parts:

(?<protocol>https?)://(?<domain>[\w.-]+)(?::(?<port>\d+))?(?<path>/[^?#]*)?(?:\?(?<query>[^#]*))?(?:#(?<fragment>.*))?

Important Caveats

• No regex can validate all possible URLs per RFC 3986
• Consider using the URL constructor (new URL(str)) in JavaScript for reliable parsing
• These patterns may match invalid domains; DNS resolution is the true validation