Regular expressions allow users to search for patterns in text using special characters and syntax. The document provides examples of common regular expressions that can be used to match certain criteria, like periods for any single character, asterisks to match repeated characters, brackets for character sets, and curly brackets for repetition counts. It also gives examples of how regular expressions could be used to search a spreadsheet for cells containing dollar amounts, US zip codes, or names starting with lowercase letters.
Regular expressions allow users to search for patterns in text using special characters and syntax. The document provides examples of common regular expressions that can be used to match certain criteria, like periods for any single character, asterisks to match repeated characters, brackets for character sets, and curly brackets for repetition counts. It also gives examples of how regular expressions could be used to search a spreadsheet for cells containing dollar amounts, US zip codes, or names starting with lowercase letters.
Regular expressions allow users to search for patterns in text using special characters and syntax. The document provides examples of common regular expressions that can be used to match certain criteria, like periods for any single character, asterisks to match repeated characters, brackets for character sets, and curly brackets for repetition counts. It also gives examples of how regular expressions could be used to search a spreadsheet for cells containing dollar amounts, US zip codes, or names starting with lowercase letters.
Regular expressions allow users to search for patterns in text using special characters and syntax. The document provides examples of common regular expressions that can be used to match certain criteria, like periods for any single character, asterisks to match repeated characters, brackets for character sets, and curly brackets for repetition counts. It also gives examples of how regular expressions could be used to search a spreadsheet for cells containing dollar amounts, US zip codes, or names starting with lowercase letters.
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Regular expressions
You can require answers to match a particular set of criteria called regular expressions. Regular expressions search for patterns in the answers.
Examples of regular expressions
The table below shows a sample of just some of the expressions that Google Docs supports. There are, however, many other supported expressions users can employ. Does not Expression Description Example Matches match A period signifies any character in the given position. d. do, dog, fog, jog . dg, ads An asterisk after a character signifies a search for that preceding character do*g dog, dg, dOg, * repeated 0 or more times. dooog doug A plus after a character signifies a search for that character displayed 1 or do+g dog, dooog dg, dOg, + more times. doug The previous expression is optional. do?g dg, dog dOg, ? doug A caret must be placed at the beginning of a regular expression and ^[dh]og dog, hog A dog, ^ signifies that the string starts with the character(s) or sequence placed his hog after the caret. A dollar sign must be placed at the end of a regular expression and [dh]og$ dog, hog, dogs, $ signifies that the string ends with the character(s) or sequence placed hot dog hog, before the dollar sign. doggy The previous expression is repeated between A and B times, where A and d(o{1,2})g dog, doog dg, {A, B} B are numbers. dooog, dOg A character set indicates that just one of the given character(s) should d[ou]g dog, dug dg, dOg, [x], [xa], occur in the current position. For the most part, any characters are valid dooog [xa5] within brackets, including characters mentioned previously in expressions: [xa,$5Gg.] A character set range signifies a search for a character within the given d[o-u]g dog, dug, dg, dOg, [a-z] range of characters. Common ranges include a-z, A-Z, and 0-9. Ranges dpg, drg dag can be combined into a single range: [a-zA-Z0-9]. Ranges can also be combined with character sets (mentioned previously): [a-zA-Z,&*].
[^a-fDEF] A character set beginning with a ^ signifies a search for a character that is d[^aeu]g dog, dOg, dg, dag, not within the given set. dig, d$g deg, dug Any white space character. d\sg d g, dg, dog, \s d[TAB]g doug NOTE: When trying to search for actual instances of any character that has a specific meaning in regular expressions, like ^ and $, you need to "escape" the character in your search query by placing a backslash in front of it. For example, if you wanted to search for an instance of the $ character, you'd write \$.
Below are a couple of examples of how regular expressions could be used to search a spreadsheet:
Search for cells that contain dollar amounts
Enter the following in the Find bar: ^\$([0-9,]+)?[.][0-9]+
This signifies a dollar amount where the first number is any number 0-9 or comma occurring zero or more times, followed by [.], followed by any number 0-9 repeated one or more times. This search would return any of the following: $4.666, $17.86, $7.76, $.54, $900,001.00, $523,877,231.56
Search for cells containing US zip codes
Enter the following into the Find bar: [0-9]{5}(-[0-9]{4})?
This signifies a U.S. zip code consisting of five numbers with an optional hyphen and four-digit add-on.
Search for cells containing names beginning with a lowercase letter
Enter the following into the Find bar: ^[a-z].*
This signifies a cell input that contains a lowercase letter followed by another character 0 or more times. This search would return any of the following: bob, jim, gEORGE, marTin
