EasyLearner

Hi, thanks guys. Both replies were useful but I marked @gizmolaas the correct one because of the level of info and depth of explanation - especially the bonus Apache comment, thanks

Hi all ! I am new to regular expressions but been using PHP for a while, so I am experimenting with preg_match(). I understand that rexex patterns need to be delimited ie / . . . pattern . . . / but I notice that some expressions also have a ^ and $ which apparently denotes beginning and end ie /^ . . . pattern . . . $/ however some expressions seem to work with or without the start - end ^ - $ characters. So, please, what are they for, when should I use them and when should I not - or are the 'optional' - what do they do? Thanks guys