🔍Regex Recipes

Windows Path (Basic)

Match Windows file paths with drive letter and backslashes. Includes escaping examples.

Pattern

^[A-Za-z]:\$?:[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]+\$*[^\\/:*?"<>|\r\n]*$

Explanation

Matches Windows paths: drive letter, colon, backslashes, excluding invalid filename characters.

Examples

Absolute path

Input

C:\\Users\\John\\file.txt

Output

✓ Match

Folder path

Input

D:\\Projects\\App\\

Output

✓ Match

Invalid - colon in name

Input

C:\\bad:name.txt

Output

✗ No match

Code Examples

JavaScript

// In JavaScript strings, use double backslash
const path = 'C:\\Users\\John\\Documents\\file.txt';

// Path module (Node.js) is better
const path = require('path');
const normalized = path.normalize('C:/Users/John/file.txt');
// Returns: 'C:\\Users\\John\\file.txt'

// Extract components
const parsed = path.parse('C:\\Users\\file.txt');
// {
//   root: 'C:\\',
//   dir: 'C:\\Users',
//   base: 'file.txt',
//   name: 'file',
//   ext: '.txt'
// }

Try it Now

Open in Regex Tester

💡 Tips

Use path module in Node.js for path operations
Forward slashes (/) also work in most Windows APIs
Normalize paths for comparison
Check path length limits (260 chars traditional limit)

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Backslashes must be escaped in regex and strings
Invalid characters: \ / : * ? " < > |
UNC paths (\\\\server\\share) need different pattern
Use path library for production