| ^ | anchor pattern to the begining of a string |
| $ | anchor pattern to the end of a string |
| \d | matches any one digit |
| [0-9] | matches any one digit |
| [a-z] | matches any one lowercase letter |
| [A-Z] | matches any one captial letter |
| [a-zA-Z] | matches any one letter (lowercase or captial |
| (patternSegment) | matches the entire pattern enclosed in parentheses |
| + | matches one or more of the preceeding pattern |
| * | matches zero or more of the preceeding pattern |
| ? | mathces zero or one of the preceeding pattern |
| {m,n} | preceeding pattern must occur at least m times, but no more than n times |
| {m,} | preceeding pattern must occur at least m times |
| {m} | preceeding pattern must occur exactly m times |