Time (HH:MM:SS) Regex Pattern

Match and validate time strings in HH:MM:SS and HH:MM formats using regex. Supports 24-hour format with optional seconds.

The Pattern

/\b(?:[01]\d|2[0-3]):[0-5]\d(?::[0-5]\d)?\b/g

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How It Works

Token	Meaning
`\b`	Word boundary to prevent partial matches
`(?:[01]\d\|2[0-3])`	Hours: 00-19 or 20-23
`:`	Literal colon separator
`[0-5]\d`	Minutes: 00-59
`(?::[0-5]\d)?`	Optional seconds: colon followed by 00-59
`\b`	Trailing word boundary

Test Cases

✅00:00:00Match

✅23:59:59Match

✅12:30Match

✅09:15:30Match

❌24:00:00No match

❌12:60:00No match

❌1:30No match

Code Examples

javascript

const timeRegex = /\b(?:[01]\d|2[0-3]):[0-5]\d(?::[0-5]\d)?\b/g;
const text = "Meetings at 09:15:30, 14:00, and invalid 25:00";
const matches = text.match(timeRegex);
console.log(matches); // ["09:15:30", "14:00"]

python

import re
time_regex = r'\b(?:[01]\d|2[0-3]):[0-5]\d(?::[0-5]\d)?\b'
text = "Meetings at 09:15:30, 14:00, and invalid 25:00"
matches = re.findall(time_regex, text)
print(matches)  # ['09:15:30', '14:00']

Common Use Cases

Form validation - ensure correct time format input
Log parsing - extract timestamps from log entries
Scheduling apps - validate user-entered time values
Data import - identify and normalize time fields in CSV/spreadsheets

Related Patterns

Date Format (YYYY-MM-DD)Phone Number IPv4 Address

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Try this pattern in Regex Tester →