Question

I would like to return the entire string if it starts with page but not pager.
I tried the example below but it does not work for me.

Example of a single-pass regex that contains alpha but does not contain beta (found on this post):

^((?!beta).)*alpha((?!beta).)*$

However if you try page but not pager this does not work:

^((?!pager).)*page((?!pager).)*$

Answer 1

This will do it:

^(?!pager)page.*$

or:

^page(?!r).*$

Both will allow 'pager' to be in the string, but not at the start.