Regex
Regex, short for "regular expression," is a sequence of characters that set a pattern used to define either the allowed or disallowed characters and character strings in a naming convention. Regex can define characters, cases, symbols, naming structures, and lengths.
Regex is used throughout Modern Campus CMS, in locations such as site settings for file naming and binary file naming, and find and replace.
File NamingLink to this section
Use following regex in file naming settings to restrict which characters are allowed to users when naming files.
| Symbol | Description | Sample Regex | Sample Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ - ] | Range indicator | [a-z] | One lower case (LC) letter from a thru z | d, or a, or z |
| [ - ] | Range indicator | [a-zA-Z] | One LC or upper case (UC) letter | D, or d, or A |
| [ - ] | Range indicator | [a-zA-Z0-9] | One LC, UC, or number(#) | d, or D, or 1 |
| * | No limit in characters | [a-zA-Z]* | Any LC or UC of any length | LongfileName |
| { } | Set Character Limit | [a-zA-Z]{5} | Any LC or UC exactly 5 characters in Length | aaaaa, AasAc, hhhhH |
| { , } | Set Character Range | [a-zA-Z]{2,5} | Any LC or UC between 2 to 5 characters in Length | aAa, abCd, abcdE |
| { , } | Set Minimum Character Range | [a-zA-Z]{2,} | Any LC or UC a minimum of 2 characters in Length | aaa, ababA, Filename |
| [ - ]*[ . ] | Add required punctuation | [a-zA-Z]*[.] | Any LC or UC of any length ending in a . | test. Sample. nAme. |
| [ - ]*[ . ][ - ] | Add defined extension rules | [a-zA-Z]*[.] [a-z] | Any LC or UC of any length ending with a . with an extension of 1 character made of any LC a-z | test.a, name.b, words.c |
| [ - ]*[ . ][ - ]{ , } | Add a range for the extension | [a-zA-Z]*[.] [a-z]{2,4} | Any LC or UC of any length ending with a . with an extension of 2 to 4 characters made of any LC a-z | Name.tif, image.jpg, document.docx |
| [|] | Boolean, 'or' | [a-zA-Z]*[.] [jpg|jpeg|txt|pdf]{3,4} | Any LC or UC of any length ending with a . with an extension limited to jpg, jpeg, txt, or pdf | image.jpg, image.jpeg, doc.txt, doc.pdf |
| \ | Add restricted Character | [a-zA-Z\-]*[.] [a-z]{2,4} | Any LC or UC or - of any length ending with a . with an extension of 2 to 4 characters made of any LC a-z | image-new.jpg |
* LC = lower case, UC = upper case
SearchLink to this section
Use the following regex when searching (such as a find and replace with regex) to find content that fits criteria more complicated than simple text matches.
| Symbol | Description | Sample Regex | Sample Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [] | Search Range | [z] | Search for any lower case z | PEz, zebrA |
| ( ) | Search Group | (pdf) | Look for any grouping of pdf in filenames or code | document.pdf, /xsl/catalog/pdf/courses |
| \. | Special Character | (\.pdf) | Look for any grouping that includes .pdf | document.pdf, file.pdf |
| ^ | Negated, Not | [^A-Z] | Match everything that is NOT an uppercase A-Z | This is an Example of This REgEX |
| ? | Match as few characters as possible | ([o]{2}?) | Match any word that has two o's next to each other | Footcode, Prefooter, |
| (|) | Boolean, "or" | (jpg|gif|pdf) | Match any of the sequences of text | image.jpg, document.pdf, file.gif |
You will receive an error if you search using ^* or (\S|\s)*