What does .* do in regex?

Question

After extensive search, I am unable to find an explanation for the need to use .* in regex. For example, MSDN suggests a password regex of

@\\\"(?=.{6,})(?=(.*\\         


        

Answer 1

The .* portion just allows for literally any combination of characters to be entered. It's essentially allowing for the user to add any level of extra information to the password on top of the data you are requiring

Note: I don't think that MSDN page is actually suggesting that as a password validator. It is just providing an example of a possible one.