🔍Regex Recipes

Extract @Mentions

Extract social media @mentions and @usernames from text.

Pattern

@[\w]{1,15}

Explanation

Matches @ followed by 1-15 word characters (letters, numbers, underscore). Common for Twitter/X usernames.

Examples

Simple mention

Input

@username

Output

✓ Match

In sentence

Input

Hey @john_doe how are you?

Output

✓ Match: @john_doe

Multiple

Input

@alice and @bob

Output

Matches both

Too long

Input

@verylongusernamethatexceedslimit

Output

✓ Match first 15 chars only

Code Examples

JavaScript

const text = 'Thanks @john_doe and @alice for the help!';
const mentions = text.match(/@[\w]{1,15}/g)
  .map(m => m.substring(1)); // Remove @
// Result: ['john_doe', 'alice']

// With word boundaries for precision
const preciseMentions = /\B@[\w]{1,15}\b/g;

// Extract with position info
const matches = [...text.matchAll(/@([\w]{1,15})/g)];
matches.forEach(([full, username], index) => {
  console.log(`Found @${username} at position ${matches[index].index}`);
});

Try it Now

Open in Regex Tester

💡 Tips

Twitter/X: 1-15 characters, letters/numbers/underscore
Instagram: allows dots, 1-30 characters
Use \B@\w+ to avoid matching email addresses
Validate against actual user database

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Username length limits vary by platform
May match @ in email addresses
Some platforms allow dots or dashes
Use word boundary \B to avoid matching in emails