Backslash Character ( \ )
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A backslash (\) can serve two purposes. It can be used in conjunction with a special character to indicate that the next character be treated as a literal character. For example, \. would be treated as period (.) instead of a wildcard. Alternatively, if the backslash (\) is used in conjunction with some characters that would otherwise be treated as literal characters, such as the letters n, t, w, or d, the combination indicates a special character. For example, \n stands for the newline character.
If the backslash character is not used for either of these purposes, it is ignored.
For example:
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w matches the character w
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\w is a special character that matches any word character including underscore
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\\ matches the literal character \
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\( matches the literal character (
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on\etwo matches the string onetwo
For example, if you were looking for a Web site called www.advantageonlineshopping.com, the period would be mistaken as an indication of a regular expression. To indicate that the period is not part of a regular expression, you would enter it as www\.advantageonlineshopping\.com
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Matching Any Single Character ( . )
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A period (.) instructs UFT One to search for any single character (except for \n).
For example: welcome. matches welcomes, welcomed, or welcome followed by a space or any other single character. A series of periods indicates the same number of unspecified characters.
To match any single character including \n, enter (.|\n)
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Matching Any Single Character in a List ( [xy] )
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Square brackets instruct UFT One to search for any single character within a list of characters.
For example, to search for the date 1967, 1968, or 1969, enter 196[789]
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Matching Any Single Character Not in a List ( [^xy] )
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When a caret (^) is the first character inside square brackets, it instructs UFT One to match any character in the list except for the ones specified in the string.
For example [^ab] matches any character except a or b
The caret has this special meaning only when it is displayed first within the brackets.
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Matching Any Single Character within a Range ( [x-y] )
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To match a single character within a range, you can use square brackets ([ ]) with the hyphen (-) character.
For instance, to match any year in the 1960s, enter 196[0-9]
A hyphen does not signify a range if it is displayed as the first or last character within brackets, or after a caret (^).
For example, [-a-z] matches a hyphen or any lowercase letter.
Within brackets, the characters ".", "*", "[" and "\" are literal. For example, [.*] matches . or *. If the right bracket is the first character in the range, it is also literal.
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Matching Zero or More Specific Characters ( * )
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An asterisk (*) instructs UFT One to match zero or more occurrences of the preceding character.
For example, ca*r matches car, caaaaaar, and cr.
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Matching One or More Specific Characters ( + )
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A plus sign (+) instructs UFT One to match one or more occurrences of the preceding character.
For example ca+r matches car and caaaaaar, but not cr
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Grouping Regular Expressions ( ( ) )
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Parentheses (()) instruct UFT One to treat the contained sequence as a unit, just as in mathematics and programming languages.
Using groups is especially useful for delimiting the arguments to an alternation operator ( | ) or a repetition operator: ( * , + , ? , { } )
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Matching One of Several Regular Expressions ( | )
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Matching One of Several Regular Expressions ( | )
A vertical line (|) instructs UFT One to match one of a choice of expressions.
For example, foo|bar causes UFT One to match either foo or bar. By contrast, fo(o|b)ar causes UFT One to match either fooar or fobar
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Matching the Beginning of a Line ( ^ )
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A caret (^) instructs UFT One to match the expression only at the start of a line, or after a newline character.
For example, book matches book within the lines—book, my book, and book list, while ^book matches book only in the lines—book and book list
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Matching the End of a Line ( $ )
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A dollar sign ($) instructs UFT One to match the expression only at the end of a line.
For example book matches book within the lines—my book, and book list, while a string that is followed by (\n), (\r), or ($), matches only lines ending in that string.
For example book$ matches book only in the line—my book
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Matching a Newline or Carriage Return Character ( \n ) or ( \r )
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\n or \r instruct UFT One to match the expression only when followed by a newline or carriage return character.
For example, book matches book within the lines—my book, and book list
A string that is followed by (\n) or (\r) matches only lines that are followed by a newline or carriage return character.
For example, book\r matches book only when book is followed by a carriage return
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Matching Any AlphaNumeric Character Including the Underscore ( \w )
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\w instructs UFT One to match any alphanumeric character and the underscore (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _).
For example, \w* causes UFT One to match zero or more occurrences of the alphanumeric characters—A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and the underscore (_). It matches Ab, r9Cj, or 12_uYLgeu_435.
For example, \w{3} causes UFT One to match 3 occurrences of the alphanumeric characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and the underscore (_). It matches Ab4, r9_, or z_M.
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Matching Any Non-AlphaNumeric Character ( \W )
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\W instructs UFT One to match any character other than alphanumeric characters and underscores.
For example, \W matches &, *, ^, %, $, and #
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Matching a Decimal Digit ( \d )
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\d instructs UFT One to match any decimal digit.
For example, \d matches 1, 2, 4, and 5
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Matching a Non-Digit Character ( \D )
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\D instructs UFT One to match any character other than a decimal digit.
For example, \D matches a, T, =, and +
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Combining Regular Expression Operators
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You can combine regular expression operators in a single expression to achieve the exact search criteria you need.
For example, you can combine the '.' and '*' characters to find zero or more occurrences of any character (except \n).
For example, start.* matches start, started, starting, starter
You can use a combination of brackets and an asterisk to limit the search to a combination of non-numeric characters. For example, [a-zA-Z]*
To match any number between 0 and 1200, you need to match numbers with 1 digit, 2 digits, 3 digits, or 4 digits between 1000-1200.
This regular expression matches any number between 0 and 1200: ([0-9]?[0-9]?[0-9]|1[01][0-9][0-9]|1200)
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