REGEXP

REGEXP function is a powerful function that allows pattern matching using UNIX regular expressions. REGEXP is not supported on Windows.

COMMAND SYNTAX

    REGEXP(variable, expression)

SYNTAX ELEMENTS

variable can be any type of jBC variable and is the variable upon which pattern matching will be performed.

expression should evaluate to a standard UNIX regular expression as defined in the UNIX documentation.

NOTES

The function returns a numeric integer value being the first character in variable that matches the specified regular expression. If a match is not found then the function returns 0. If the regular expression was invalid then the function returns -1.

A positive TAFJ note: REGEXP() function now works under Windows.

EXAMPLES

       String = "jBASE Software Inc."    ;* 4 (position of matching pattern -
       CRT REGEXP(String, 'S[^t]*')      ;*   "S" followed by "t" later on)
    * find an exact value in a list
       CRT REGEXP('051', '^(050|5001|051|053|265|4007|5007|037|060|098)$')   ;* 1
       CRT REGEXP('05123', '^(050|5001|051|053|265|4007|5007|037|060|098)$') ;* 0
    * everything in range "000" - "999" except "037"
       CRT REGEXP('036', '(0[0-24-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])')  ;* 1
       CRT REGEXP('037', '(0[0-24-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])')  ;* 0
       CRT REGEXP('137', '(0[0-24-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])')  ;* 1
    * everything in range "000" - "999" except "037" and "057"
       CRT REGEXP('036', '(0[0-246-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])') ;* 1
       CRT REGEXP('037', '(0[0-246-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])') ;* 0
       CRT REGEXP('057', '(0[0-246-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])') ;* 0
       CRT REGEXP('957', '(0[0-246-9][0-9]|0[0-9][0-68-9]|[1-9][0-9][0-9])') ;* 1
    * all 2-character country codes except "RS"
       CRT REGEXP('RS', '([A-QS-Z][A-Z]|[R][A-RT-Z])')                       ;* 0
       CRT REGEXP('AE', '([A-QS-Z][A-Z]|[R][A-RT-Z])')                       ;* 1
       CRT REGEXP('RU', '([A-QS-Z][A-Z]|[R][A-RT-Z])')                       ;* 1
    * negative lookahead assertion isn't supported ("all not containing 'bar'")
       CRT REGEXP('bar', '"^(?!.*?bar).*"')                                 ;* -1

Another positive TAFJ note: negative lookahead now works.