Regex Search and Match¶
Searches an input string using a regular expression and returns all matches. It performs a global search across the entire text and outputs the results as a list. If the pattern contains capture groups, the output reflects those groups.
Usage¶
Use this node when you need to extract all occurrences that match a specific pattern from a block of text (e.g., emails, IDs, keywords of a certain length). Typically used before downstream parsing, validation, filtering, or branching logic that depends on detected tokens.
Inputs¶
| Field | Required | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| text_input | True | STRING | The text to search. Can be multi-line. | Please contact alice@example.com or bob@example.org for details. |
| regex_pattern | True | STRING | Regular expression to match against the input text. Use standard regex syntax. Backslashes must be escaped in string literals. | \b[a-zA-Z]{6}\b |
Outputs¶
| Field | Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| matches | LIST | A list of all matches found. If the pattern has capture groups, each match may be a string (no groups) or a tuple/list (with groups). Returns an empty list if no matches are found. | ['alice', 'bobcat'] |
Important Notes¶
- If the regex pattern contains capture groups, each item in the output may be a tuple of captured group values rather than a single string.
- Invalid regex patterns will cause an error; verify your pattern syntax.
- The search is global across the entire input and is not case-insensitive unless specified in the pattern (e.g., (?i)).
- Remember to double-escape backslashes in patterns entered as strings (e.g., "\d+" for digits).
- Performance can degrade with very large texts or complex patterns; optimize your regex when processing long documents.
- By default, dot (.) does not match newlines unless you use modifiers like (?s).
Troubleshooting¶
- Pattern returns an empty list: Confirm the text truly contains matches and that anchors/boundaries (e.g., \b, ^, $) are appropriate for your data.
- Unexpected tuple outputs: Remove capture groups or convert them to non-capturing groups (?:...) if you want full-match strings.
- Regex syntax error: Validate the pattern with a regex tester or simplify the expression to locate the error.
- Missing matches due to case: Add (?i) to the pattern or explicitly include case ranges.
- Multiline behavior issues: Use (?m) for ^/$ across lines or (?s) for dotall behavior if needed.
Example Pipelines¶
