Webflags: g

YouTube Video ID

Extract 11-character YouTube video IDs from long URLs, short URLs, or embed URLs.

Available in

JavaScript / ECMAScript code

jsJavaScript

const re = new RegExp("(?:youtube\\.com\\/watch\\?v=|youtu\\.be\\/|youtube\\.com\\/embed\\/)([\\w\\-]{11})", "g");
const input = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ";
const matches = [...input.matchAll(re)];
console.log(matches.map(m => m[0]));

Uses `String.prototype.matchAll` for global iteration (Node 12+ / all modern browsers).

Python (re) code

pyPython

import re

pattern = re.compile(r"(?:youtube\.com\/watch\?v=|youtu\.be\/|youtube\.com\/embed\/)([\w\-]{11})")
input_text = "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
for m in pattern.finditer(input_text):
    print(m.group(0))

Stdlib `re` module — no third-party dependency. Works on Python 3.6+.

Go (RE2) code

goGo

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"regexp"
)

func main() {
	re := regexp.MustCompile(`(?:youtube\.com\/watch\?v=|youtu\.be\/|youtube\.com\/embed\/)([\w\-]{11})`)
	input := `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ`
	for _, match := range re.FindAllString(input, -1) {
		fmt.Println(match)
	}
}

Uses `regexp.MustCompile` (panics on bad patterns at startup) and `FindAllString` for all matches.

Pattern

regexengine-agnostic

(?:youtube\.com\/watch\?v=|youtu\.be\/|youtube\.com\/embed\/)([\w\-]{11})   (flags: g)

Raw source: (?:youtube\.com\/watch\?v=|youtu\.be\/|youtube\.com\/embed\/)([\w\-]{11})

How it works

Matches any of three URL forms (watch?v=, youtu.be/, embed/) and captures the 11-character video ID that follows. The ID uses word characters and hyphens.