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Network Patterns

Match MAC Address Regex

A regex pattern to validate standard IEEE 802 MAC addresses separated by colons or hyphens.

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How to Match a MAC Address with Regex

A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller. It consists of six groups of two hexadecimal digits, typically separated by colons (:) or hyphens (-).

The Pattern Breakdown

The regular expression ^([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})$ cleanly validates this structure:

  • [0-9A-Fa-f]{2}: Matches exactly two hexadecimal digits.
  • [:-]: Matches the separator (either a colon or a hyphen).
  • {5}: Repeats the digit+separator sequence exactly five times.
  • ([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}): Matches the final two hex digits, which do not have a trailing separator.

Common Use Cases

  • Device Tracking: Parsing DHCP server logs to identify unique devices.
  • Network Security: Validating inputs for MAC filtering rules on routers and firewalls.