Q: What does the plus character [+] do in regex?
or
Q: What is the function of the plus symbol [+] in regex?
- Matches plus sign characters
- Matches one or more occurrences of the character before it
- Matches the end of a string
- Matches the character before the [+] only if there is more than one
Explanation: The plus sign (also written as a plus sign, plus), when used in regular expressions (regex), does not have any particular significance. It is handled as if it were a literal character and is considered to represent itself.
In regular expressions, the letter + has a specific significance; however, this significance is not shown by surrounding the character in square brackets. The plus sign is a quantifier that, when used without square brackets, denotes “one or more occurrences” of the preceding character or group. This is because the plus sign may be used alone. For instance, the pattern a+ would match a string if it had one or more instances of the letter ‘a’ that came one after another.
Because characters are taken literally inside square brackets, using [+] to denote the plus sign would particularly match the ‘+’ character that is already present in the text. Instead of functioning as a quantifier, it is used to signify a plus sign in its literal sense.
