Pattern · India 🇮🇳

Regex for Cheque number

6-digit serial cheque number from the bottom-left of an Indian cheque.

The Cheque number regex is ^\d{6}$ — copy it below, or open it in the explainer for a token-by-token breakdown.

The pattern

^\d{6}$

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What it matches

123456
000001
999999

What it doesn't match

12345
1234567
ABC123

Notes & gotchas

The 6-digit cheque number is printed at the bottom-left of every Indian cheque (in MICR-readable form). Used to identify a specific cheque within a series for that account. Other digits on the MICR line include the 9-digit MICR code and 6-digit account number.

Code in your language

Use the explainer's Code tab to generate ready-to-paste snippets in JavaScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go, Ruby, and PHP for this pattern.

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Token-by-token breakdown

Every part of the pattern, left to right:

Token	Meaning
`^`	start of string (or line in multiline mode)
`\d{6}`	exactly 6 times: digit (0–9)
`$`	end of string (or line in multiline mode)

About this pattern

India-specific identifiers are governed by various authorities (UIDAI for Aadhaar, Income Tax Dept for PAN, RBI for IFSC, GSTN for GSTIN, etc.). Regex confirms format; for definitive validation, integrate with the issuing authority's verification API.

Quick usage in different languages

This exact pattern — with the correct escaping and idioms for each language:

JavaScript: /^\d{6}$/.test(value)
Python: re.match(r"^\d{6}$", value)
Java: Pattern.compile("^\\d{6}$").matcher(value).matches()
C# / .NET: Regex.IsMatch(value, @"^\d{6}$")
Go: regexp.MustCompile(`^\d{6}$`).MatchString(value)
Ruby: /^\d{6}$/.match?(value)
PHP: preg_match('~^\d{6}$~', $value)

The explainer’s Code tab regenerates these for any pattern you paste, and the downloadable cheat sheet bundles the breakdown, all seven snippets, and the pitfalls below onto one printable page.

Common pitfalls

Anchored to the whole string. This pattern uses ^ and $, so it requires the entire input to match. To find it inside a longer text, drop the anchors and use the global (g) flag.
Escape it correctly per language. In Java and JavaScript strings each backslash must be doubled (\\d); in Python, Go, and C# use raw/verbatim strings so the backslashes survive.
Validate beyond format. Matching the format doesn't guarantee the value is real. Confirm the cheque number against a source of truth (database, API, or checksum) where it matters.

Standards & sources

This pattern is based on the following authoritative specification(s) and issuing authorities. Formats can change — always confirm against the primary source.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

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