---
canonicalUrl: "https://www.hoalee.net/dev-stash/usecases/regex-help"
title: "Check a small regular expression"
description: "Use a literal expression and inspect the expected match."
kind: "usecase"
language: "en"
updatedAt: "2026-09-17"
---

# Check a small regular expression

A small illustrative toolbox for repeatable developer tasks\.

[Open Dev\-Stash](https://tools.example.test/)

[Back to Dev\-Stash](https://www.hoalee.net/dev-stash) · [All Dev\-Stash use cases](https://www.hoalee.net/dev-stash/usecases)

Use a literal expression and inspect the expected match\.

## Try a concrete input

The expression `^[a-z]+$` accepts `sample` and rejects `sample-2`\. Anchoring both ends is what makes the second string fail: without the anchors, the engine would match the leading `sample` and report a success the author did not intend\.

## What this page exercises

This use case is illustrative\. It shows the shape and route of a use\-case page rather than describing a released capability\. It also links out of its own collection: [install the example workflow](https://www.hoalee.net/dev-stash/docs/guide/install) to run the expression yourself, and see the [CLI reference](https://www.hoalee.net/dev-stash/docs/reference/cli) for the fields that decide which files an expression is applied to\.