Regex to extract keyword from tweet -

i'm trying match 'apple' in tweet data twitter. want able match hashtags too, match 'apple' either: 'apple' or '#apple'.

edit: example tweet might be:

"today going eat apple"

or

"today going eat #apple"

i not want match:

"today going eat lots of apples"

i managed match hashtags using following \s#([^ ]*), how make hashtag optional?

eventually need create 2 variations, 1 case sensitive , 1 case insensitive.

you can make hash optional appending question mark:

\s#?([^ ]*)