Common use cases
- ✓CMS route validation
- ✓Static-page slug checks
- ✓API resource identifiers
JavaScript-compatible regex reference
URL Slug Regex Pattern & Tester
Validate lowercase, hyphen-separated URL slugs such as regex-pattern-library or product-2026. The pattern requires alphanumeric segments separated by single hyphens, so leading, trailing, and repeated hyphens are rejected.
Pattern
^[a-z0-9]+(?:-[a-z0-9]+)*$Flags: none
Live test vectors
Test the URL slug regex
Enter one value per line. Each line is tested against the whole-string pattern using the browser JavaScript RegExp engine.
PASS
regex-pattern-libraryPASS
product-2026PASS
json-toolsPASS
aFAIL
Regex-PatternFAIL
-leading-hyphenFAIL
double--hyphenFAIL
trailing-hyphen-Quick answer
For a simple lowercase ASCII slug policy, require one or more alphanumeric segments separated by single hyphens. Generate or normalize Unicode and punctuation before validation rather than silently accepting arbitrary characters.
Pitfalls and limitations
- !This pattern intentionally rejects uppercase letters and underscores.
- !Internationalized slugs need a Unicode-aware policy rather than an ASCII-only pattern.
- !A validator does not perform slugification; normalize spaces, accents, punctuation, and case before validation when generating slugs from titles.
Known-valid examples
regex-pattern-libraryproduct-2026json-toolsaKnown-invalid examples
Regex-Pattern-leading-hyphendouble--hyphentrailing-hyphen-Continue testing and debugging
Frequently asked questions
Why does the pattern reject underscores?
The policy represented here uses hyphens as the only separator. If your application permits underscores, change the separator rule deliberately rather than broadening the character class accidentally.
Does this regex create a slug from a title?
No. It validates an already-normalized slug. Slug generation usually lowercases text, transliterates or preserves Unicode according to policy, removes punctuation, and collapses whitespace into separators.
Can slugs contain Unicode characters?
They can, depending on your routing and product requirements. This page targets a simple ASCII lowercase slug convention; Unicode-aware slugs require a different character policy and regex.