URL regex Python
URL regular expressions can be used to verify if a string has a valid URL format as well as to extract an URL from a string.
URL regex that starts with HTTP or HTTPS
HTTP and HTTPS URLs that start with protocol can be validated using the following regular expression
"^https?:\\/\\/(?:www\\.)?[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)$"
Enter a text in the input above to see the result
Example code in Python:
import re
# Validate URL
url_pattern = "^https?:\\/\\/(?:www\\.)?[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)$"
re.match(url_pattern, '') # Returns Match object
re.match(url_pattern, 'https:/uibakery.io') # Returns None
# Extract URL from a string
url_extract_pattern = "https?:\\/\\/(?:www\\.)?[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)"
re.findall(url_extract_pattern, 'You can view more details at https://uibakery.io or just ping via email.') # returns ['']
URL regex that doesn’t start with HTTP or HTTPS
The regular expression to validate URL without protocol is very similar:
"^[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)$"
Enter a text in the input above to see the result
Example code in Python:
# Validate URL without protocol
url_pattern = "^[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)$"
re.match(url_pattern, 'uibakery.io/contact') # Returns Match object
re.match(url_pattern, '/uibakery.io') # Returns None
# Extract URL without prrotocol from a string
url_extract_pattern = "[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\\+~#=]{1,256}\\.[a-zA-Z0-9()]{1,6}\\b(?:[-a-zA-Z0-9()@:%_\\+.~#?&\\/=]*)"
re.findall(url_extract_pattern, 'You can view more details at uibakery.io or just ping via email.') # returns ['uibakery.io']
Notes on URL validation
The above-mentioned regular expressions only cover the most commonly used types of URLs with domain names. If you have some more complex cases you might need a different solution.
