REGEX_Match Function Not Working?

[mkeiffer]

Hi everyone,

I am fairly new to Alteryx and I am having an issue with the RegEx_Match function.  I have written the following filter with RegEx_Match:

REGEX_Match([Medical Record Number], "\b\d{3}")

However, I am not getting any records that match the filter, even though I can see there are several records that should match the filter.  The field type is V_String and I have double-checked the formula so I am not sure what I am doing wrong.  

I have used regular expressions with other programs so I am not sure what the issue.  Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Here is a sample of what the data looks like -

Medical Record Number
52184
57921
56683
49317
55947

Thanks in advance for your help!

Mike

[flying008]

Hi, @mkeiffer 

What are you want output ? maybe you can give sample output data for the case.

[alexnajm · Accepted solution]

What are you trying to match pattern-wise? Based on the data you posted, it seems like it should be REGEX_Match([Medical Record Number], "\d{5}")

[Robin_McIntosh · Accepted solution]

@mkeiffer - Based on what you have, REGEX_Match([Medical Record Number], "\b\d{3}"), are you trying to pull out the first 3 digits?  If so, use the RegEx tool and tokenize.

[alexnajm]

Agreed with @Robin_McIntosh!

[mkeiffer]

@flying008 @Robin_McIntosh @alexnajm 

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to my post.  Yes, I was trying to test for the first 3 characters of the Medical Record Number field being all numeric characters.  I was going to go to the Reg Ex tool next, but I did get the following expression to work with the RegEx_Match function, using the Filter tool.

Here is the expression that worked:

REGEX_Match([Medical Record Number], " \b\d{3}.* ")

Looks like I needed to end my expression with .* and then it ran correctly.

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to respond to my post.  It is much appreciated!

Mike

[mkeiffer]

@alexnajm 

I did try the expression this way and that also worked.  I was also trying to see if I could get the RegEx_Match function to just identify the first 3 characters as numeric as well.  

I did find a way to get that approach to work with this expression:

REGEX_Match([Medical Record Number], "\b\d{3}.*")

Adding the .* at the end of the expression got it to work with focusing on the first 3 characters.

Thanks again for you help!

Mike

[alexnajm]

Makes sense @mkeiffer!