Pattern · India 🇮🇳

Regex for IMPS reference number

12-digit reference number for IMPS transfers.

The IMPS reference number regex is ^\d{12}$ — copy it below, or open it in the explainer for a token-by-token breakdown.

The pattern

^\d{12}$

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What it matches

123456789012
987654321098

What it doesn't match

12345678901
1234567890123
ABC456789012

Notes & gotchas

IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) generates a 12-digit Reference Number for each successful transaction. Used to query transaction status with the originating bank or NPCI.

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{12}`	exactly 12 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{12}$/.test(value)
Python: re.match(r"^\d{12}$", value)
Java: Pattern.compile("^\\d{12}$").matcher(value).matches()
C# / .NET: Regex.IsMatch(value, @"^\d{12}$")
Go: regexp.MustCompile(`^\d{12}$`).MatchString(value)
Ruby: /^\d{12}$/.match?(value)
PHP: preg_match('~^\d{12}$~', $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 imps reference 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.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

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