# RegEx Lab: Regular Expressions — Test regular expressions

> Mobile tool for testing, creating, and understanding regular expressions. (iPhone/iPad app by sovio.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/regex-lab-regular-expressions/id1252988123 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [sovio](https://appshunter.io/developer/1397333570)
- Category: Developer Tools, Education
- Price: $0.99 (on sale, was $1.99)
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 172 App Store ratings · 60 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 14.0 · 5 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2017-07-26
- Data updated: 2026-08-25
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/regex-lab-regular-expressions/id1252988123/reviews.md

## What is RegEx Lab?

RegEx Lab - test regular expressions

• Highlighting of regex syntax and of matches and capture groups.
• Choose the color of the match highlights
• Results List View which lists all the matches and capture groups.
• Replace feature
• Dark theme (by default) based on the Solarized color palette
• Themes to choose from (light/dark)
• A handy cheatsheet which tells you about the different operators, option flags and metacharacters.
• An extra row of keyboard keys for common special characters
• Undo / Redo quick access buttons
• Support for Dynamic Type (iOS Settings Text Size)
• Export / Import feature

Questions, suggestions, issues?
regexlab@sovio.co

Made by Nikolay Suvandzhiev

## Key features

- Regex syntax highlighting
- Match and capture group highlighting
- Customizable highlight colors
- Results list view
- Replace feature
- Dark and light themes
- Regular expression cheatsheet

## Chart rankings

- #60 in Top Paid · Developer Tools (US App Store)

## What do users think of RegEx Lab?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Beautifully designed UI
- 🚀 Simple and easy to use
- ⚡ Gets regular expression tasks done quickly
- 💡 Useful offline Regex tool
- 🛠️ Essential text tool for devs and writers
- ✅ Excellent UI and workflow
- 💯 Comprehensive and powerful
- 💖 Love it
- ✨ Constantly improving
- 🚀 Works great
- 🌟 Latest update making things better
- 🎯 Gets the job done without annoyance
- 📚 Great for practicing/learning Regex
- 🧩 Nice implementation for extracting data
- 🎨 Color coded grouping is great
- 💡 Share feature is brilliant
- 🖥️ Best Regex app on macOS
- 💡 Clean simplicity and good tutorials
- ✅ Works well and is free
- 👨‍💻 Great for developers
- 💡 Unique, handy, well-made app
- ✨ Great UI
- 💡 Live highlighting of group matches is awesome
- 📚 Integrated documentation/cheatsheet
- 📱 Fantastic tool to have in hand
- 🚀 Best regex app out there
- 💡 Elegant user interface
- 📝 Simple design with great functions
- 👍 Must-have for whipping up regex
- 💡 Responsive developer

**Cons**

- 🐛 Files are hidden and not found in Files app
- 🐛 Export option makes a mess
- 🐛 Mac version has no effort put into it
- 🐛 Takes a long time for load screen to go away
- 🐛 'Select this match' option often doesn't work
- 🐛 Difficult to figure out replace function
- 🐛 Cheat sheet not easily accessible
- 🐛 Terrible light/dark highlighting
- 🐛 Keyboard does not go back down
- 🐛 Import functionality is very broken
- 🐛 Corrected errors remain highlighted in red
- 🐛 Difficult to apply series of regex search/replace to multiple texts
- 🐛 No support for named groups
- 🐛 All English, difficult to use for some

**Commonly reported bugs**

- iPad's Files app cannot find the app or Regex files
- Export option creates messy files
- Mac version lacks developer effort
- Slow load screen when creating new expressions
- Select this match option is unreliable
- Replace function is difficult to understand
- Cheat sheet accessibility issues
- Poor highlighting options
- Keyboard behavior issues
- Import functionality is broken
- Highlighted errors persist
- Difficulty with sequential regex application
- Lack of named group support
- Interface is entirely in English

**Most requested features**

- Make app and Regex files visible in Files app
- Improve export option for Regex files
- Add a button to clear the text window
- Allow simultaneous viewing of text and replacement text
- Add a button to copy and replace text on the previous screen
- Add more examples to the cheat sheet
- Add a user manual
- Automatically jump to matched text
- Add a Chinese language option
- Add 'snippets' or templates
- Add a special keyboard for common expressions

## Recent user reviews (10 of 60)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/regex-lab-regular-expressions/id1252988123/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Really great one

*2026-01-29, version 1.16.2*

Beautifully designed UI. Simple and easy to use. Get my regular expression things done in just a few seconds.

### 1/5 — Where is the app and my files? All hidden files!! :(

*2025-02-14*

I was really enjoying this app until I went to backup my Regex files I’ve created in it. The iPad’s Files app cannot find the app or my Regex files. Why make them hidden?! The export option makes a mess of them. If you select Export All you get a file that’s not html but is full of HTML codes and everything is in quotes. If I can’t backup my Regex expressions to iCloud, then the app is not saving me any time. Please make your app visible! AND all of my Regex files I’ve created in your app. I shouldn’t have to buy a Shell to go on an Easter Egg Hunt to find my work. Geesh!! :((

**Developer response:** Thanks for your review and feedback. By default the data of the app (when a developer makes an app) is private, in fact it never creates typical "files" the way we usually think about these, and it is why it is not so easy to expose in the File manager or iCloud sync. That said, I completely agree that this app seems like a perfect candidate to integrate with standard "document editing" flows, cloud sync etc. I'll add it to the ToDo list for a future version release. Regarding the export/import feature - did it not work correctly for you? I would like to understand and fix this, message me on regexlab@sovio.co

### 5/5 — Useful offline Regex tool

*2025-02-12*

I wanted an offline Regexbuddy type of app on my iPad and RegEx Lab is a good option. It only supports the ICU Unicode flavor of Regex, at the moment. It’s been years since I retired and did any coding. This tool is helping me get back up to speed on Regex. Thanks for making this app!

### 5/5 — **Essential** text tool for devs and writers

*2024-08-31, version 1.16.0*

I use this every day. The **best** tool for developing and debugging scripts in Shortcuts, Scriptable, Pythonista and other automation apps. Excellent UI and workflow, simple to use yet comprehensive and powerful.

### 5/5 — I Love It - That is All

*2024-07-10, version 1.16.0*

💕💕💕

### 5/5 — Yesss

*2024-03-07, version 1.16.0*

I am new so advice is welcome

### 5/5 — The best app I have found for working with regular expressions

*2023-11-16*

This app is constantly improving and is the best app that I have found in its category of working with regular expressions. Thanks to the developer for such a useful app.

**Developer response:** Thank you for taking the time to rate and review! Glad you like RegEx Lab

### 5/5 — App is great

*2023-04-04*

The app is amazing and works great.

The latest update is making things better than ever before! Thanks for the great work!

**Developer response:** Thanks for your rating and review, I'm glad you like RegEx Lab!

Regarding the comment about the app freezing if the regex evaluation is too complicated - thanks for bringing this to my attention - I have on my ToDo list an improvement which should allow the evaluation to happen in the background and show a timer (with the option to cancel it) - this would allow to debug complicated regular expressions without freezing the app's UI.

Thanks again and happy regexing!  : )

### 2/5 — Beware: touch first app

*2023-03-29, version 1.15.0*

The developer has put no effort into the Mac version.

### 3/5 — App is great but needs updates

*2022-10-14, version 1.15.1*

The app is amazing and works great for the most part. However, there are some needed updates. When creating a new expression to test, it takes a long time for the load screen to go away. 

Also, I find that often the "select this match" option from the list view doesn't work to take me there. It gets close but the match it was taking me to isn't visible on the screen

## Frequently asked questions about RegEx Lab

### What does RegEx Lab do?

RegEx Lab is a mobile application designed for testing and experimenting with regular expressions. It provides tools to highlight regex syntax, matches, and capture groups, making it easier to understand and debug your patterns.

### What are the key features of RegEx Lab?

Key features include syntax highlighting for regex and matches, customizable highlight colors, a results list view, a replace function, multiple themes (including dark mode), an integrated cheatsheet, and support for dynamic text sizing.

### Is RegEx Lab free to use?

Yes, RegEx Lab is a free application. It does not have any in-app purchases or advertisements, allowing for an uninterrupted user experience.

### What platforms is RegEx Lab available on?

Based on the provided information, the app supports Dynamic Type, which is an iOS feature. This suggests it is available on iOS devices.

### How can I use RegEx Lab to learn regular expressions?

The app's syntax highlighting and results list view help visualize how your regular expressions match text. The included cheatsheet provides quick access to common operators and metacharacters, making it a useful tool for both learning and applying regex concepts.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.16.2 — 2024-12-06

• Fixed an issue when scrolling large amounts of text and the scroll position might end up inaccurate. Thanks to the user who reported this and provided steps and sample text to reproduce.

### 1.16.1 — 2024-11-11

• Fixed an issue when scrolling large amounts of text and the scroll position might end up inaccurate. Thanks to the user who reported this and provided steps and sample text to reproduce.

### 1.16.0 — 2023-04-03

• A big change to how text highlight logic works. It should not provide much better performance and reliability.
• Capture group coloring used to start with red, which was too harsh, it is now moved towards the end of the list of colors.
• Removed the "Created" message which appears on screen when a new regex is added.
• Added a  "Select all" button for the test text.
• Fixed an issue where some text fields would be too "smart" and change characters  such as `...` to `…` or `"` to `“`.
• Removed old third-party frameworks and switched to native code, which makes the app size smaller and improves performance.

### 1.15.1 — 2022-04-03

• This is just a maintenance release which updates/replaces some of the third-party frameworks used in the app (for example the UI framework used to display alert messages)

### 1.15.0 — 2021-11-08

• The export / import feature now also includes the "replacement text" if there is any
• The additional buttons now of the keyboard now also has a "Select all" quick shortcut for the test text field

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All apps by sovio: https://appshunter.io/developer/1397333570

## Related topics

[regular expressions](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/regular-expressions)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-25.*