LimeSurvey Manual - User contributions [en]

Using regular expressions

2010-09-30T01:27:24Z

Evan:

__TOC__

(Perl) Regular Expressions must start and finish with a forward slash ("/"). You can find a good library of regular expressions at http://www.regxlib.net/. These patterns will almost all work if surrounded with the forward slash.

To test your regex you can [http://www.regxlib.net/RETester.aspx use this regex tester].

''Please add successfully tested regular expressions!''

Examples (note that these are all one line):

=Email Validation:=

<nowiki>/(\w[-._\w]*\w@\w[-._\w]*\w\.\w{2,3})/</nowiki>

=Postcodes:=

==Australian Postcodes:==

<nowiki>/^[0-9]{4}/</nowiki>

==Canadian Postcodes:==

<nowiki>/^[a-zA-Z]\d{1}[a-zA-Z](\-| |)\d{1}[a-zA-Z]\d{1}$/</nowiki>

==US Postal Codes:==

<nowiki>/^[0-9]{5}([- /]?[0-9]{4})?$/</nowiki>

=Phone Numbers=

==US Phone Number:==

<nowiki>/^(?:$[2-9]\d{2}$\ ?|[2-9]\d{2}(?:\-?|\ ?))[2-9]\d{2}[- ]?\d{4}$/</nowiki>

or

<nowiki>/^[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{3}[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{3}[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{4}[\.\- ]{0,}$/</nowiki>

This second option will match all phone Canadian and US phone numbers that include non-digit symbols including

<nowiki> . ( ) - (space)</nowiki>

This will allow you to match phone numbers which resemble below.
*(555)555 5555
*555.555.5555
*555 555 5555
*(555)-555-5555
*555-555-5555
*555555555

==Australian Phone Number:==

The following patterns match all various Australian mobile and landline phone numbers including with "+61" country prefix eg:
*(02) 9123 6535
*03 1234-5345
*0412 345 678
*+61 2 3456 789

But not:
* 234 3450 234
*a234 534 3432
*134567
*123456789013

Brackets, white space and hypens are ignored.

<nowiki>NOTE: The 'PRECICE' versions listed here match against the first four or five didgets in a number to ensure that they are valid Australian numbers.

The 'NOT VERY PRECISE' only match against the first and second didgit so may allow invaid numbers</nowiki>

===All Australian phone numbers (mobile and landline - area code required)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^$?(?:\+?61|0)(?:(?:2$?[ -]?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])|3\)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])|7\)?[ -]?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)|8\)?[ -]?(?:5[ -]?[1-4]|6[ -]?[0-8]|[7-9][ -]?[0-9]))(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}|4\)?[ -]?(?:(?:[01][ -]?[0-9]|2[ -]?[0-57-9]|3[ -]?[1-9]|4[ -]?[7-9]|5[ -]?[018])[ -]?[0-9]|3[ -]?0[ -]?[0-5])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){5})$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|0)[2-478](?:[ -]?[0-9]){8}$/</nowiki>

===All Australian phone numbers (landlines only - area code required)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^$?(?:\+?61|0)(?:2$?[ -]?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])|3\)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])|7\)?[ -]?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)|8\)?[ -]?(?:5[ -]?[1-4]|6[ -]?[0-8]|[7-9][ -]?[0-9]))(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|$?0)[2378]$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){8}$/</nowiki>

===New South Wales landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)2$?[ -]?)?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)2$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Victorian and Tasmanian landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)3$?[ -]?)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)3$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Queensland landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)7$?[ -]?)?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)7$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)8$?[ -]?)?(?:5[1-4]|6[0-8]|[7-9][0-9])$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)8$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Australian Mobile phone numbers only===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|0)4 ?(?:(?:[01] ?[0-9]|2 ?[0-57-9]|3 ?[1-9]|4 ?[7-9]|5 ?[018]) ?[0-9]|3 ?0 ?[0-5])(?: ?[0-9]){5}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)4$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

=German marks (with optional plus or minus)=

<nowiki>/^[1-6]{1}[\+|\-]?$/</nowiki>

=Age Validation=

===Example: Age 20-99===

<nowiki>/([2-9][0-9])/</nowiki>

===Example: Age 18-35===

<nowiki>/(1[8-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-5])/</nowiki>

===Example: Age 19-65===

<nowiki><div class="simplebox">(1[8-9]|[2-5][0-9]|6[0-5])$</nowiki>

=Number validation=

==Numbers from 1 to 99999==

<nowiki>/^([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$/</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,4}$/ does the same as above but should run a little faster</nowiki>

==Numbers from 1 to 999, 1.000 to 999.999 to 999.999.999==

<nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:\.[0-9]{3}){0,2}$/

accepts numbers from 1 to 999, 1.000 to 999.999 to 999.999.999 but

rejects numbers like 999.1.1 , 94.22.22, 999.1.22, 999.11.1, 999.1.333</nowiki>

==Number validation with optionnal decimal (for price)==

<nowiki>/^([1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])[[\.)[0-9][0-9])?$/ accepts numbers from 0 to 199, with 2 decimal optionnal</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:,?[0-9]{3}){0,3}\.[0-9]{2}$/

forces two decimal points

accepts numbers from 1.00 to 999,999,999.00 with an optional comma delimiting thousands/millions

including all of the following: 1.00, 1,000.00 , 12,345.67 , 12345,02 , 123,456,468.00 , 1234566.00 , 123456789.00

but not 1,23.00 , 12,3.4 or 1234,43.04</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:,?[0-9]{3}){0,3}(?:\.[0-9]{2})?$/ same as above but the two decimal points are optional</nowiki>

==Month (1-12)==

If you want to ask for the month a person was born you can validate the input as follows:

<nowiki>/^[0]*[1-9]$|^[0]*1[0-2]$/</nowiki>

=Minimum width (set to 3 in this example)=

<nowiki>/^.{3,}$/</nowiki>

=US Currency (dollar sign and cents optional)=

<nowiki>/^\$?\d+(\.(\d{2}]]?$/</nowiki>

=Validate score=

==1-10==

<nowiki>/^[1-9]{1}$|^10$/</nowiki>

==1-100==

<nowiki>/^[1-9]?[0-9]{1}$|^100$/</nowiki>

=Text validation=

currently multiple short text doesn't support minimum or maximum answers. One way around this is to use a long free text type question with a regular expression.

The following test for at least one word per line for at least 3 lines and no more than 10 lines. <nowiki>/(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)){2,10}/is</nowiki>If you wanted, say five words per line you could change the first and last star/asterisk to {4,} e.g. <nowiki>/(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+){4,})(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+){4,})){2,10}/is</nowiki>If you wanted one or more words per line on between 1 and 5 lines, you can change the content of the last curley braces to {0,4} (note you use 0 because you're already matching the first line. <nowiki>/(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)){0,4}/is</nowiki>

==Word count==

<nowiki>The following restricts the number of words allowed to a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 200

/^[-\w]+(?:\W+[-\w]+){0,199}\W*$/</nowiki>

<nowiki>To increase the minimum change the zero part of {0,199}

To increase or decrease the maximum change the "199" part of {0,199}</nowiki>

=Time validation=

There are a number of ways of writing time formats. Some of the possible options are 12 hour or 24 hour, with seconds or without. Currently (2009/04/06) LimeSurvey (v1.80plus) doesn't have a Time queston type so instead you can use "short free text" with one of the nine validation regular expressions below:

<nowiki>The following three validation strings test for 24 hour time (in order of appearences) without seconds, with optional seconds lastly with seconds required.

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$/

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])?$/

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9]$/~/pp<span style="color:pp~The following three match 12 hour time, as above with seconds, optional seconds and with seconds required

/^(?">00:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))$/

/^(?:00:[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:pm|PM))$/

/^(?:00:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))$/~/pp</span>pp~The following three match either 12 or 24 hour time as above with seconds, optional seconds and with seconds required

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9])$/

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9](?<center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9](?</center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9](?<center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9](?</center>[0-5][0-9])?)$/

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9])$/</nowiki>

=US States=

To validate for one state use the following (example is Texas):
*TX uppercase only = <nowiki>/^(TX)$/</nowiki>
*tx lowercase only = <nowiki>/^(tx)$/</nowiki>
*TX upper or lowercase = <nowiki>/^([T|t][X|x])$/</nowiki>

Using regular expressions

2009-07-15T07:05:37Z

Evan:

__TOC__

(Perl) Regular Expressions must start and finish with a forward slash ("/"). You can find a good library of regular expressions at http://www.regxlib.net/. These patterns will almost all work if surrounded with the forward slash.

To test your regex you can [http://www.regxlib.net/RETester.aspx use this regex tester].

''Please add successfully tested regular expressions!''

Examples (note that these are all one line):

=Email Validation:=

<nowiki>/(\w[-._\w]*\w@\w[-._\w]*\w\.\w{2,3})/</nowiki>

=Postcodes:=

==Australian Postcodes:==

<nowiki>/^[0-9]{4}/</nowiki>

==Canadian Postcodes:==

<nowiki>/^[a-zA-Z]\d{1}[a-zA-Z](\-| |)\d{1}[a-zA-Z]\d{1}$/</nowiki>

==US Postal Codes:==

<nowiki>/^[0-9]{5}([- /]?[0-9]{4})?$/</nowiki>

=Phone Numbers=

==US Phone Number:==

<nowiki>/^(?:$[2-9]\d{2}$\ ?|[2-9]\d{2}(?:\-?|\ ?))[2-9]\d{2}[- ]?\d{4}$/</nowiki>

or

<nowiki>/^[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{3}[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{3}[\.\- ]{0,}[0-9]{4}[\.\- ]{0,}$/</nowiki>

This second option will match all phone Canadian and US phone numbers that include non-digit symbols including

<nowiki> . ( ) - (space)</nowiki>

This will allow you to match phone numbers which resemble below.
*(555)555 5555
*555.555.5555
*555 555 5555
*(555)-555-5555
*555-555-5555
*555555555

==Australian Phone Number:==

The following patterns match all various Australian mobile and landline phone numbers including with "+61" country prefix eg:
*(02) 9123 6535
*03 1234-5345
*0412 345 678
*+61 2 3456 789

But not:
* 234 3450 234
*a234 534 3432
*134567
*123456789013

Brackets, white space and hypens are ignored.

<nowiki>NOTE: The 'PRECICE' versions listed here match against the first four or five didgets in a number to ensure that they are valid Australian numbers.

The 'NOT VERY PRECISE' only match against the first and second didgit so may allow invaid numbers</nowiki>

===All Australian phone numbers (mobile and landline - area code required)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^$?(?:\+?61|0)(?:(?:2$?[ -]?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])|3\)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])|7\)?[ -]?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)|8\)?[ -]?(?:5[ -]?[1-4]|6[ -]?[0-8]|[7-9][ -]?[0-9]))(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}|4\)?[ -]?(?:(?:[01][ -]?[0-9]|2[ -]?[0-57-9]|3[ -]?[1-9]|4[ -]?[7-9]|5[ -]?[018])[ -]?[0-9]|3[ -]?0[ -]?[0-5])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){5})$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|0)[2-478](?:[ -]?[0-9]){8}$/</nowiki>

===All Australian phone numbers (landlines only - area code required)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^$?(?:\+?61|0)(?:2$?[ -]?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])|3\)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])|7\)?[ -]?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)|8\)?[ -]?(?:5[ -]?[1-4]|6[ -]?[0-8]|[7-9][ -]?[0-9]))(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|$?0)[2378]$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){8}$/</nowiki>

===New South Wales landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)2$?[ -]?)?(?:3[ -]?[38]|[46-9][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[0-35-9])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)2$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Victorian and Tasmanian landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)3$?[ -]?)?(?:4[ -]?[0-57-9]|[57-9][ -]?[0-9]|6[ -]?[1-67])(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)3$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Queensland landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)7$?[ -]?)?(?:[2-4][ -]?[0-9]|5[ -]?[2-7]|7[ -]?6)(?:[ -]?[0-9]){6}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)7$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia landline phone numbers (area code optional)===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)8$?[ -]?)?(?:5[1-4]|6[0-8]|[7-9][0-9])$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)8$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

===Australian Mobile phone numbers only===

<nowiki>VERY PRECISE

/^(?:\+?61|0)4 ?(?:(?:[01] ?[0-9]|2 ?[0-57-9]|3 ?[1-9]|4 ?[7-9]|5 ?[018]) ?[0-9]|3 ?0 ?[0-5])(?: ?[0-9]){5}$/

NOT VERY PRECISE

/^(?:$?(?:\+?61|0)4$?(?:[ -]?[0-9]){7}[0-9]$/</nowiki>

=German marks (with optional plus or minus)=

<nowiki>/^[1-6]{1}[\+|\-]?$/</nowiki>

=Age Validation=

===Example: Age 20-99===

<nowiki>/([2-9][0-9])/</nowiki>

===Example: Age 18-35===

<nowiki>/(1[8-9]|2[0-9]|3[0-5])/</nowiki>

=Number validation=

==Numbers from 1 to 99999==

<nowiki>/^([1-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$/</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,4}$/ does the same as above but should run a little faster</nowiki>

==Numbers from 1 to 999, 1.000 to 999.999 to 999.999.999==

<nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:\.[0-9]{3}){0,2}$/

accepts numbers from 1 to 999, 1.000 to 999.999 to 999.999.999 but

rejects numbers like 999.1.1 , 94.22.22, 999.1.22, 999.11.1, 999.1.333</nowiki>

==Number validation with optionnal decimal (for price)==

<nowiki>/^([1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])[[\.)[0-9][0-9])?$/ accepts numbers from 0 to 199, with 2 decimal optionnal</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:,?[0-9]{3}){0,3}\.[0-9]{2}$/

forces two decimal points

accepts numbers from 1.00 to 999,999,999.00 with an optional comma delimiting thousands/millions

including all of the following: 1.00, 1,000.00 , 12,345.67 , 12345,02 , 123,456,468.00 , 1234566.00 , 123456789.00

but not 1,23.00 , 12,3.4 or 1234,43.04</nowiki> <nowiki>/^[1-9][0-9]{0,2}(?:,?[0-9]{3}){0,3}(?:\.[0-9]{2})?$/ same as above but the two decimal points are optional</nowiki>

=Minimum width (set to 3 in this example)=

<nowiki>/^.{3,}$/</nowiki>

=US Currency (dollar sign and cents optional)=

<nowiki>/^\$?\d+(\.(\d{2}]]?$/</nowiki>

=Validate score=

==1-10==

<nowiki>/^[1-9]{1}$|^10$/</nowiki>

==1-100==

<nowiki>/^[1-9]?[0-9]{1}$|^100$/</nowiki>

=Text validation=

currently multiple short text doesn't support minimum or maximum answers. One way around this is to use a long free text type question with a regular expression.

The following test for at least one word per line for at least 3 lines and no more than 10 lines. <nowiki>/(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)){2,10}/is</nowiki>If you wanted, say five words per line you could change the first and last star/asterisk to {4,} e.g. <nowiki>/(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+){4,})(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+){4,})){2,10}/is</nowiki>If you wanted one or more words per line on between 1 and 5 lines, you can change the content of the last curley braces to {0,4} (note you use 0 because you're already matching the first line. <nowiki>/(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)(?:[,.;:?!& \n\r]?(?:\n|\r|\n\r|\r\n)(?:[<div class="simplebox">,.;:?!& \n\r]+(?: [</div>,.;:?!& \n\r]+)*)){0,4}/is</nowiki>

=Time validation=

There are a number of ways of writing time formats. Some of the possible options are 12 hour or 24 hour, with seconds or without. Currently (2009/04/06) LimeSurvey (v1.80plus) doesn't have a Time queston type so instead you can use "short free text" with one of the nine validation regular expressions below:

<nowiki>The following three validation strings test for 24 hour time (in order of appearences) without seconds, with optional seconds lastly with seconds required.

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$/

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])?$/

/^(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9]$/~/pp<span style="color:pp~The following three match 12 hour time, as above with seconds, optional seconds and with seconds required

/^(?">00:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))$/

/^(?:00:[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9](?::[0-5][0-9])? (?:pm|PM))$/

/^(?:00:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))$/~/pp</span>pp~The following three match either 12 or 24 hour time as above with seconds, optional seconds and with seconds required

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9])$/

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9](?<center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9](?</center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9](?<center>[0-5][0-9])? (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9](?</center>[0-5][0-9])?)$/

/^(?:(?:00:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:am|AM)|(?:0[1-9]|1[01]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:[ap]m|[AP]M)|12:[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9] (?:pm|PM))|(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]:[0-5][0-9])$/</nowiki>