🔍Regex Recipes

Find TODO/FIXME Comments

Scan code for TODO, FIXME, HACK, and NOTE comments.

Pattern

(TODO|FIXME|HACK|NOTE|XXX):?\s*(.*)$

Explanation

Matches common code comment markers with optional colon and captures the rest of the line.

Examples

TODO comment

Input

// TODO: Fix this bug

Output

✓ Match: TODO: Fix this bug

FIXME

Input

# FIXME urgent

Output

✓ Match: FIXME urgent

Multiple

Input

/* NOTE: Important */
// TODO refactor

Output

Matches both

Code Examples

JavaScript

// Find all TODO markers in code
const code = `
// TODO: Refactor this function
function old() {
  // FIXME: Memory leak here
  // NOTE: This is important
}
`;

const todos = [...code.matchAll(/(TODO|FIXME|HACK|NOTE|XXX):?\s*(.*)$/gm)];
todos.forEach(([full, type, message]) => {
  console.log(`${type}: ${message}`);
});

Try it Now

Open in Regex Tester Open in Find & Replace

💡 Tips

Add to pre-commit hooks to track technical debt
Use IDE plugins for better TODO tracking
Include @username for assignment: TODO(@john)
Add HACK for temporary workarounds

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

May match TODOs in strings or comments you want to keep
Different languages have different comment syntaxes
Consider context - not all TODOs are urgent
May want to extract line numbers too