Pattern Extractor

Extract all text fragments that match a pattern or regular expression. Use this quick, in‑browser regex extractor to pull dates, IDs, emails, URLs and other repeated values without installing software. Processing is client-side — your text stays in the browser. This tool is ideal to extract pattern from text and to produce lists you can copy, paste or chain into other PicoToolkit actions.

How to use

1. Paste your text into the editor.
2. Open Extract -> Pattern and type the regex pattern.
3. Run Extract. Matches appear in the extraction panel for quick preview.
4. Use the panel buttons to copy matches to clipboard, paste matches back to the editor (replace current content) or append matches to the editor.
5. For unique values or further formatting, chain the output to other tools (see Chaining actions section).

Extraction panel -> preview, copy, paste

• All matches are shown in a dedicated extraction panel immediately after running Extract. This lets you inspect results and tweak the pattern before changing your main text.
• Panel actions: Copy (copies matches to clipboard), Paste to editor (replace current editor content with matches), and Append to editor (add matches to existing content).
• Use the panel to quickly create CSV-ready lists or to move results into other PicoToolkit tools.

Key features

• Regex support (JS-style regular expressions).
• Global extraction -> all matches are returned.
• Multiline behaviour is active (patterns span lines when appropriate).
• Flags: global and case-insensitive behavior applied by default (JS regex style).
• Copy matches to clipboard and paste/append from the extraction panel.
• Client-side processing -> no server upload; good for privacy and quick response.

Common use cases

• Extract dates from documents and logs.
• Find tracking / waybill numbers and other fixed-length IDs.
• Pull emails, URLs or phone numbers (see dedicated extractors for convenience).
• Prepare lists for CSV/JSON conversion or further analysis.

Examples -> copy-paste ready

Text: I met on 2021-09-30 and 2022-01-15.
Find: \d{4,4}-\d{2,2}-\d{2,2}
Result: 2021-09-30, 2022-01-15

Text: Tracking: 123456789012, 987654321098
Find: \d{12,12}
Result: 123456789012, 987654321098

Text: Contact: alice@example.com, bob@mail.com
Find: [A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}
Result: alice@example.com, bob@mail.com

Text: Visit https://example.com and http://site.org/page
Find: https?://[^\s]+
Result: https://example.com, http://site.org/page

Text: Order IDs: ID-123, ID-456
Find: ID-(\d+)
Result: ID-123, ID-456

Long-tail example -> simple JSON key extractor

Text: {"id":123,"name":"Alice"},{"id":456,"name":"Bob"}
Find: "name":"([^"]+)"
Result: Alice, Bob

Chaining actions -> combine tools to finish tasks

The power of PicoToolkit lies in chaining actions: extract patterns, move results to the editor, then run another tool. Example workflow (EAN codes):

1. Extract EAN-13 codes: Find pattern \b\d{13}\b in the extraction panel.
2. Use Paste to editor (or Append to editor) to replace the editor content with extracted codes.
3. Open Remove -> Duplicates (Remove Duplicates) to remove repeated lines.
4. Convert the cleaned list to CSV with Convert Newline To Comma.

This sequence shows how extraction + editor paste + dedicated converters produce reliable output faster than ad‑hoc regex alone.

How to extract unique matches

Quick workflow to get unique values from extraction panel:

1. Run Extract -> Pattern. Matches appear in the extraction panel.
2. Click Copy in the panel and paste matches into the editor (or use Paste to editor directly).
3. Open Remove -> Duplicates (Remove Duplicates) or Remove Duplicate Words to produce a unique list.
4. Optionally convert to CSV with Convert Newline To Comma or export via clipboard.

Output formats & export

• Copy matches directly from the extraction panel to the clipboard.
• Use Paste to editor to replace the main text or Append to editor to add results.
• For CSV output, after pasting matches to the editor replace newlines with , or use Convert Newline To Comma.

Tips & edge cases

• Test patterns on a small sample before extracting full documents.
• Use anchors and word boundaries (^, $, \b) to avoid partial matches.
• Remember the extractor returns all matches -> to get unique values, run the output through Remove Duplicates or Remove Duplicate Words.
• If your source contains HTML, strip tags first with HTML Stripper for more reliable results.
• For structured conversion (CSV -> JSON) use dedicated converters after extraction: CSV to JSON Converter.
• Very large inputs may slow the browser -> split input into smaller chunks if needed.

Short FAQ

Q: Which regex flavor and flags are supported?

A: The tool uses JS-style regular expressions. Global and case-insensitive behavior are applied by default; multiline behaviour is active.

Q: Is processing client-side or uploaded?

A: Processing is client-side. Text is not uploaded to a server, which helps protect privacy.

Q: How do I export or deduplicate results?

A: You can copy matches to the clipboard directly. To remove duplicate lines or words use Remove Duplicates or Remove Duplicate Words.

Q: Are there limits on input size?

A: There is no hard server-side limit. Practical limits depend on your browser and device memory for textarea content.

Dedicated extractors and converters

For common extraction tasks use dedicated PicoToolkit tools -> they handle edge cases and format-specific quirks better than ad-hoc regex:

• Email Extractor -> extract email addresses quickly.
• URL Extractor -> reliable URL parsing.
• Phone Number Extractor -> phone formats handled for many regions.
• Number Extractor -> pull numeric values from mixed text.
• Convert Newline To Comma -> prepare lists for CSV export.
• CSV to JSON Converter -> convert extracted lists to structured JSON.

Related tools

• Extract Unique Words -> list distinct words from text.
• Word Frequency Counter -> count occurrences after extraction.
• CSV Transposer -> reshape CSV output when needed.

High-value keywords & topics to include

• pattern extractor online
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• extract pattern from text
• extract all matches, multiline regex, JS regex, global extraction, copy to clipboard
• regex extract online, regex extractor for logs, extract unique matches, export extracted list to CSV

Try an example above, use the extraction panel to preview results, then chain actions to finish the job. Reply OK if you want a trimmed hero paragraph or changes to any example.