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Inconsistent Regex Behaviour

corkddd
5 - Atom

Hello all,

 

I've noticed some strange regex behaviour in Alteryx, namely when using capture groups as compared to regex101. Please see the screenshots below:

 

Using this formula

 

 

REGEX_Match([test], "(h)")

 

 

 

In Alteryx:

 

alteryx comm 1.jpg

In Regex101:

 

image.png

 

Alteryx does not seem to be picking up anything except for JUST "h". I found an easy workaround by using the following regular expression, which does work in Alteryx: 

 

 

.*(h).*

 

 

But the question still stands, why is Alteryx inconsistent with Regex101? I thought it may have something to do with flags but I'm not sure if that's the case.

 


For context:

  • I'm using version 2020.2
  • AMP engine is off

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

2 REPLIES 2
cmcclellan
13 - Pulsar

OMG! I had this exact problem this morning - admittedly I was writing Python (not using Alteryx) but it's the same thing.  I found this:'

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/180986/what-is-the-difference-between-re-search-and-re-match

 

but in your case, this is more appropriate:

 

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Desktop-Discussions/Regex-match/td-p/434001  (the last line states: If appears that Regex_Match has to match the entire field in order to return true, whereas Regex_replace acts on any part of the field.  )

 

I just can't get regex101 to replicate what I was doing.  

 

The solution is really:

REGEX_Match([test], ".*(h).*")
flying008
14 - Magnetar

Hi, @corkddd 

 

In Alteryx, use REGEX_Match function to must be match the entire field.

In RegEx101, just match any-part of string.

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