Regex for Matching Repeated Characters

Uses a backreference to match any character that immediately repeats itself.

Published October 13, 2026

Uses a backreference to match any character that immediately repeats itself.

Key points

  • \1 refers back to whatever the first capture group matched, so (.)\1+ matches 2 or more of the same character in a row, like "aaa" or "!!"

Example

(.)\1+
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