Semantic Version Regex

Developer

Regular expression

/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$/

Pattern breakdown

Part	Meaning
`Anchor or context`	Use anchors when you need whole-string validation.
`Main token`	The core token sequence describes the accepted text shape.
`Character class`	Character classes limit which characters are valid.
`Quantifier`	Quantifiers control how many characters or groups are accepted.
`Flags`	Use language-specific flags such as i, m, or u only when needed.

Should match

1.2.3-beta.1

Should not match

v1.2
not matching sample
1.2.3-beta.1 invalid
v1.21.2.3-beta.1

Test cases

Input	Expected	Why it matters
`1.2.3-beta.1`	Match	Representative valid input for this pattern.
`v1.2`	No match	Common invalid or boundary input.
`(empty string)`	No match	Common invalid or boundary input.
`not matching sample`	No match	Common invalid or boundary input.
`1.2.3-beta.1 invalid`	No match	Common invalid or boundary input.
`v1.21.2.3-beta.1`	No match	Common invalid or boundary input.

JavaScript

const re = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$/;
re.test(input);

Python

import re
bool(re.search(r"^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$", text))

PHP

$ok = preg_match('/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$/', $value) === 1;

Java

Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("^\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$");
pattern.matcher(value).find();

Go

re := regexp.MustCompile(`^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$`)
ok := re.MatchString(value)

Notes and production use

Semantic Version regex is useful as a practical starting point. Test it against your real input, avoid using it as the only security control, and prefer a parser when the format has complex grammar.

Performance tip: avoid running complex regular expressions repeatedly on very large untrusted strings without limits. Prefer anchored validation patterns, cap input length before matching, and use a parser when the target format has nested grammar.

Semantic Version