Quantifiers in JavaScript
From the JavaScript Regular Expressions cheat sheet · Basic Patterns · verified Jul 2026
Quantifiers
Specifying repetition
javascript
* 0 or more
+ 1 or more
? 0 or 1
{n} Exactly n times
{n,} n or more times
{n,m} Between n and m times
// Greedy vs Lazy
*? 0 or more (lazy)
+? 1 or more (lazy)
?? 0 or 1 (lazy)
{n,}? n or more (lazy)
// Examples
/ab*c/.test("ac") // true (0 b's)
/ab+c/.test("ac") // false (needs 1+ b's)
/colou?r/.test("color") // true (optional u)
/\d{3}/.test("123") // true (exactly 3)
/\d{2,4}/.test("12345") // true (matches "1234")
// Greedy vs Lazy
"<div>text</div>".match(/<.*>/) // ["<div>text</div>"]
"<div>text</div>".match(/<.*?>/) // ["<div>"]💡 Greedy quantifiers match as much as possible
⚡ Add ? after quantifier for lazy (minimal) matching
📌 {n,m} is inclusive - matches n to m times
🟢 Use ? for optional parts like https? for http/https
quantifiersrepetition