Start and End Anchors ^ $

Anchors don't match characters - they match positions in the text.

The Caret (^) - Start of String

^ matches the position at the start of the string.

Only the first "Hello" matches because it's at the start of the string.

The Dollar ($) - End of String

$ matches the position at the end of the string.

Exercises

Combining Anchors

Use both to match the entire string:

Validating Input

What Anchors DON'T Match

Anchors match positions, not characters:

The ^ matches the position before 'H', but captures no text (zero-length match).

Practice Playground

Try (with m flag for multiline):

• ^[A-Z] - lines starting with uppercase
• \.$ - lines ending with period
• ^\d - lines starting with digit
• ^.+$ - entire lines

Key Takeaways

• ^ matches the start position
• $ matches the end position
• Use together for exact/full matches
• In multiline mode (m flag), they match line starts/ends
• Anchors don't consume characters