Lua with Neowin: String Patterns — %a %d %s %w, Quantifiers, match & gmatch | Episode 25

Lua doesn't have regex — it has something simpler and surprisingly powerful. In this episode we learn Lua's string pattern system: character classes like %a %d %s %w, quantifiers + * - ?, string.match for single matches, string.gmatch for iterating all matches, and captures with parentheses. We extract numbers, match words, validate emails, parse dates, and split CSV data. Practice code: https://github.com/GoCelesteAI/learn-lua-in-neovim Timestamps: 0:00 Intro | 0:12 Preview | 0:44 Extract Numbers | 1:29 Run | 1:42 Match Words | 3:05 Run | 3:18 Validate Email | 5:53 Run | 6:06 Extract Date Parts | 7:18 Word Splitter | 8:58 Final run | 9:31 Review | 9:51 Recap | 10:23 Next: File I/O Tags: lua, lua tutorial, learn lua, lua string patterns, lua pattern matching, lua string.match, lua string.gmatch, lua captures, lua character classes, lua quantifiers, lua %d %a %s %w, lua text matching, lua for beginners, neovim lua, neovim tutorial, learn lua in neovim, lua episode 25, programming tutorial, coding tutorial, beginner programming, lua 2026, neovim 2026, screenkey, code along, lua intermediate, lua string processing