# Spaces

You use space characters in the regex string to indicate expected gaps between characters. If you specify a large gap the tool may skip over characters during matching. A general guideline is to use a space character to indicate a gap that is as large as the feature size you've specified.

As described in the Regex Model Syntax topic, a (normal ASCII) space character is special. It does not match a feature, but tells the model matcher to expect a bigger gap between features at that position. You can add several spaces if wider gaps are expected. The final "match string" for the model will include those spaces.

Space is the only character that is special. Other whitespace characters simply try to match a feature which is labeled with that particular character.

Note in particular that the regex model does not support any "multi-line" models. CR or LF characters have no special meaning.