NOTE:In text boxes where pattern-matching expressions are allowed you can right-click for a shortcut menu with pattern-matching values that can be selected and inserted into the text box.
NOTE:
In text boxes where pattern-matching expressions are allowed you
can right-click for a shortcut menu with pattern-matching values
that can be selected and inserted into the text box.
Ordinary characters are expressions which represent themselves. Any character of the supported character set may be used. However, if any of the following special characters are used they must be prefaced with a backslash (\) that masks their usual function.
\ [ ] < > | ^ $
If ^ and $ are not used as anchoring characters, that is, not as first or last characters, they are considered ordinary characters and do not need to be masked.
If the caret (^) is used as the first character of the pattern, only expressions discovered at the beginning of lines are matched. For example, "^ab" matches the string "ab" in the line "abcde", but not in the line "xabcde".
If the dollar sign is used as the last character of a pattern, only expressions at the end of lines are matched. For example, "de$" matches "de" in the line "abcde", but not in the line "abcdex".
Patterns used to match strings consisting of an arbitrary number of characters require one or more of the following expressions:
Separator characters are configurable for each pattern. By default, separators are the space and the tab characters.
Two expressions separated by the special character vertical bar (|) matches a string that is matched by either expression. For example, the pattern:
[ab|c]d
matches the string "abd" and the string "cd".
The NOT operator ( ! ) must be used with delimiting square brackets, for example:
<![WARNING]>
The pattern above matches all text which does not contain the string "WARNING".
The NOT operator may also be used with complex subpatterns:
SU <*> + <@.tty> <![root|[user[1|2]]].from>-<*ot>
The above pattern makes it possible to generate a "switch user" message for anyone who is not user1, user2 or root. Therefore the following would be matched:
SU 03/25 08:14 + ttyp2 user11-root
However, this line would not be matched, because it contains an entry concerning "user2":
SU 03/25 08:14 + ttyp2 user2-root
Notice that if the subpattern including the not operator does not find a match, the not operator behaves like a <*>: it matches zero or more arbitrary characters. For this reason, the HP Operations pattern-matching expression: <![1|2|3]> matches any character or any number of characters, except 1, 2, or 3.
The backslash ( \ ) is used to mask the special meaning of the characters:
[ ] < > | ^ $
A special character preceded by \ results in an expression that matches the special character itself.
Notice that because ^ and $ only have special meaning when placed at the beginning and end of a pattern respectively, you do not need to mask them when they are used within the pattern (in other words, not at beginning or end).
The only exception to this rule is the tab character, which is specified by entering "\t" into the pattern string.
The brackets ([ and ]) are used as delimiters to group expressions. To increase performance, brackets should be avoided wherever they are unnecessary. In the pattern:
ab[cd[ef]gh]
all brackets are unnecessary--"abcdefgh" is equivalent.
Bracketed expressions are used frequently with the OR operator, the NOT operator and when using subpatterns to assign strings to variables.
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