| General Information |
Anchoring Characters |
| Character Class |
Description |
| ^ |
Anchor the expression! to the start of a line |
| $ |
Anchor the expression! to the end of a line | |
Equivalence Classes |
| Character Class |
Description |
| = = |
Oracle supports the equivalence classes through the POSIX '[==]' syntax. A base letter and all of its accented versions constitute an equivalence class. For example, the equivalence class '[=a=]' matches � and �. The equivalence classes are valid only inside the bracketed expression! | |
Match Options |
| Character Class |
Description |
| c |
Case sensitive matching |
| i |
Case insensitive matching |
| m |
Treat source string as multi-line activating Anchor chars |
| n |
Allow the period (.) to match any newline character | |
Posix Characters |
| Character Class |
Description |
| [:alnum:] |
Alphanumeric characters |
| [:alpha:] |
Alphabetic characters |
| [:blank:] |
Blank Space Characters |
| [:cntrl:] |
Control characters (nonprinting) |
| [:digit:] |
Numeric digits |
| [:graph:] |
Any [:punct:], [:upper:], [:lower:], and [:digit:] chars |
| [:lower:] |
Lowercase alphabetic characters |
| [:print:] |
Printable characters |
| [:punct:] |
Punctuation characters |
| [:space:] |
Space characters (nonprinting), such as carriage return, newline, vertical tab, and form feed |
| [:upper:] |
Uppercase alphabetic characters |
| [:xdigit:] |
Hexidecimal characters | |
Quantifier Characters |
| Character Class |
Description |
| * |
Match 0 or more times |
| ? |
Match 0 or 1 time |
| + |
Match 1 or more times |
| {m} |
Match exactly m times |
| {m,} |
Match at least m times |
| {m, n} |
Match at least m times but no more than n times |
| \n |
Cause the previous expression! to be repeated n times | |
Alternative Matching And Grouping Characters |
| Character Class |
Description |
| | |
Separates alternates, often used with grouping operator () |
| ( ) |
Groups subexpression! into a unit for alternations, for quantifiers, or for backreferencing (see "Backreferences" section) |
| [char] |
Indicates a character list; most metacharacters inside a character list are understood as literals, with the exception of character classes, and the ^ and - metacharacters | |
Demo Table |
CREATE TABLE test (
testcol VARCHAR2(50));
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('abcde');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12345');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('1a4A5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12a45');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12aBC');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12abc');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12ab5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12aa5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12AB5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('ABCDE');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('123-5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('12.45');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('1a4b5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('1 3 5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('1 45');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('1 5');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a b c d');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a b c d e');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('a e');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('Steven');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('Stephen');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('111.222.3333');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('222.333.4444');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('333.444.5555');
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('abcdefabcdefabcxyz');
COMMIT; |
|
| REGEXP_COUNT |
| Syntax |
REGEXP_COUNT(<source_string>, <pattern>[[, <start_position>], [<match_parameter>]])
-- match parameter:
'c' = case sensitive
'i' = case insensitive search
'm' = treats the source string as multiple lines
'n' = allows the period (.) wild character to match newline
'x' = ignore whitespace characters |
Count's occurrences based on a regular expression! |
SELECT REGEXP_COUNT(testcol, '2a', 1, 'i') RESULT
FROM test;
SELECT REGEXP_COUNT(testcol, 'e', 1, 'i') RESULT
FROM test; |
|
| REGEXP_INSTR |
| Syntax |
REGEXP_INSTR(<source_string>, <pattern>[[, <start_position>][, <occurrence>][, <return_option>][, <match_parameter>][, <sub_expression!>]]) |
Find words beginning with 's' or 'r' or 'p' followed by any 4 alphabetic characters: case insensitive |
SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('500 Oracle Pkwy, Redwood Shores, CA', '[o][[:alpha:]]{3}', 1, 1, 0, 'i') RESULT
FROM dual;
SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('500 Oracle Pkwy, Redwood Shores, CA', '[o][[:alpha:]]{3}', 1, 1, 1, 'i') RESULT
FROM dual;
SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('500 Oracle Pkwy, Redwood Shores, CA', '[o][[:alpha:]]{3}', 1, 2, 0, 'i') RESULT
FROM dual;
SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('500 Oracle Pkwy, Redwood Shores, CA', '[o][[:alpha:]]{3}', 1, 2, 1, 'i') RESULT
FROM dual; |
| Find the position of try, trying, tried or tries |
SELECT REGEXP_INSTR('We are trying to make the subject easier.', 'tr(y(ing)?|(ied)|(ies))') RESULTNUM
FROM dual; |
| Using Sub-Expression! option |
SELECT testcol, REGEXP_INSTR(testcol, 'ab', 1, 1, 0, 'i', 0)
FROM test;
SELECT testcol, REGEXP_INSTR(testcol, 'ab', 1, 1, 0, 'i', 1)
FROM test;
SELECT testcol, REGEXP_INSTR(testcol, 'a(b)', 1, 1, 0, 'i', 1)
FROM test; |
|
| REGEXP_LIKE |
| Syntax |
REGEXP_LIKE(<source_string>, <pattern>, <match_parameter>) |
AlphaNumeric Characters |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alnum:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alnum:]]{3}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alnum:]]{5}'); |
Alphabetic Characters |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alpha:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alpha:]]{3}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:alpha:]]{5}'); |
Control Characters |
INSERT INTO test VALUES ('zyx' || CHR(13) || 'wvu');
COMMIT;
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:cntrl:]]{1}'); |
Digits |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:digit:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:digit:]]{3}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:digit:]]{5}'); |
Lower Case |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:lower:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:lower:]]{2}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:lower:]]{3}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:lower:]]{5}'); |
Printable Characters |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:print:]]{5}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:print:]]{6}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:print:]]{7}'); |
Punctuation |
TRUNCATE TABLE test;
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:punct:]]'); |
Spaces |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:space:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:space:]]{2}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:space:]]{3}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:space:]]{5}'); |
Upper Case |
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:upper:]]');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:upper:]]{2}');
SELECT *
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '[[:upper:]]{3}'); |
| Values Starting with 'a%b' |
SELECT testcol
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '^ab*'); |
| 'a' is the third value |
SELECT testcol
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '^..a.'); |
| Contains two consecutive occurances of the letter 'a' or 'z' |
SELECT testcol
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '([az])\1', 'i'); |
| Begins with 'Ste' ends with 'en' and contains either 'v' or 'ph' in the center |
SELECT testcol
FROM test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(testcol, '^Ste(v|ph)en$'); |
| Use a regular expression! in a check constraint |
CREATE TABLE mytest (c1 VARCHAR2(20),
CHECK (REGEXP_LIKE(c1, '^[[:alpha:]]+$'))); |
Identify SSN
Thanks: Byron Bush HIOUG |
CREATE TABLE ssn_test (
ssn_col VARCHAR2(20));
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('111-22-3333');
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('111=22-3333');
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('111-A2-3333');
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('111-22-33339');
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('111-2-23333');
INSERT INTO ssn_test VALUES ('987-65-4321');
COMMIT;
SELECT ssn_col
from ssn_test
WHERE REGEXP_LIKE(ssn_col,'^[0-9]{3}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4}$'); |
|
| REGEXP_REPLACE |
| Syntax |
REGEXP_REPLACE(<source_string>, <pattern>,
<replace_string>, <position>, <occurrence>, <match_parameter>) |
| Looks for the pattern xxx.xxx.xxxx and reformats pattern to (xxx) xxx-xxxx |
col testcol format a15
col result format a15
SELECT testcol, REGEXP_REPLACE(testcol,
'([[:digit:]]{3})\.([[:digit:]]{3})\.([[:digit:]]{4})',
'(\1) \2-\3') RESULT
FROM test
WHERE LENGTH(testcol) = 12; |
| Put a space after every character |
SELECT testcol, REGEXP_REPLACE(testcol, '(.)', '\1 ') RESULT
FROM test
WHERE testcol like 'S%'; |
| Replace multiple spaces with a single space |
SELECT REGEXP_REPLACE('500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA', '( ){2,}', ' ') RESULT
FROM dual; |
| Insert a space between a lower case character followed by an upper case character |
SELECT REGEXP_REPLACE('George McGovern', '([[:lower:]])([[:upper:]])', '\1 \2') CITY
FROM dual; |
| Replace the period with a string (note use of '\') |
SELECT REGEXP_REPLACE('We are trying to make the subject easier.','\.',' for you.') REGEXT_SAMPLE
FROM dual; |
Demo |
CREATE TABLE t(
testcol VARCHAR2(10));
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('1');
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('2 ');
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('3 new ');
col newval format a10
SELECT LENGTH(testcol) len, testcol origval,
REGEXP_REPLACE(testcol, '\W+$', ' ') newval,
LENGTH(REGEXP_REPLACE(testcol, '\W+$', ' ')) newlen
FROM t; |
|
| REGEXP_SUBSTR |
| Syntax |
REGEXP_SUBSTR(source_string, pattern
[, position [, occurrence
[, match_parameter]]]) |
| Searches for a comma followed by one or more occurrences of non-comma characters followed by a comma |
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR('500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA', ',[^,]+,') RESULT
FROM dual; |
| Look for http:// followed by a substring of one or more alphanumeric characters and optionally, a period (.) |
col result format a50
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR('Go to http://www.oracle.com/products and click on database',
'http://([[:alnum:]]+\.?){3,4}/?') RESULT
FROM dual; |
| Extracts try, trying, tried or tries |
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR('We are trying to make the subject easier.','tr(y(ing)?|(ied)|(ies))')
FROM dual; |
| Extract the 3rd field treating ':' as a delimiter |
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR('system/pwd@orabase:1521:sidval',
'[^:]+', 1, 3) RESULT
FROM dual; |
Extract from string with vertical bar delimiter |
CREATE TABLE regexp (
testcol VARCHAR2(50));
INSERT INTO regexp
(testcol)
VALUES
('One|Two|Three|Four|Five');
SELECT * FROM regexp;
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR(testcol,'[^|]+', 1, 3)
FROM regexp; |
| Equivalence classes |
SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR('iSelfSchooling NOT ISelfSchooling', '[[=i=]]SelfSchooling') RESULT
FROM dual; |
Parsing Demo |
set serveroutput on
DECLARE
x VARCHAR2(2);
y VARCHAR2(2);
c VARCHAR2(40) := '1:3,4:6,8:10,3:4,7:6,11:12';
BEGIN
x := REGEXP_SUBSTR(c,'[^:]+', 1, 1);
y := REGEXP_SUBSTR(c,'[^,]+', 3, 1);
dbms_output.put_line(x ||' '|| y);
END;
/ |
