Negated Sets [^abc]

Sometimes it's easier to specify what you DON'T want to match. Negated sets do exactly that.

The Caret Inside Brackets

[^abc] matches any character that is NOT a, b, or c.

Notice everything EXCEPT vowels is matched - consonants, spaces, and capitals.

Important: Position Matters

The ^ only means "not" when it's the first character inside brackets:

• [^abc] = NOT a, b, or c
• [a^bc] = a, ^, b, or c (^ is literal here)

Exercises

Finding Non-Alphanumeric

Practical Example: Clean Text

Combining with Patterns

Excluding Specific Characters

Practice Playground

Try:

• [^0-9] - everything except digits
• [^a-zA-Z] - everything except letters
• [^()] - everything except parentheses

Common Use Cases

Pattern	Matches
[^0-9]	Non-digits
[^a-zA-Z]	Non-letters
[^a-zA-Z0-9]	Non-alphanumeric
[^\s]	Non-whitespace
[^"]	Anything except quotes

Key Takeaways

• [^...] matches any character NOT in the set
• The ^ must be first inside the brackets
• Useful for "everything except" patterns
• Remember to include/exclude spaces as needed