What do ^ and $ mean in a regular expression?

Question

What is the difference between \"\\\\w+@\\\\w+[.]\\\\w+\" and \"^\\\\w+@\\\\w+[.]\\\\w+$\"? I have tried to google for it but no luck.

Answer 1

Try the Javadoc:

http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/regex/Pattern.html

^ and $ match the beginnings/endings of a line (without consuming them)