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RegEx Split

The RegEx Split processor provides a way to split up the data in an attribute into an array, using a regular expression to define where the splits should occur.

Note on Regular Expressions

Regular expressions are a standard technique for expressing patterns and manipulating Strings that are very powerful once mastered.

Tutorials and reference material about regular expressions are available on the Internet, including:

Regular Expressions Info

and in books, including:

Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl published by O'Reilly UK; ISBN: 0-596-00289-0.

There are also software packages available to help you master regular expressions, such as RegExBuddy, and online libraries of useful regular expressions, such as RegExLib.

Use

Use RegEx Split to split up data where you need a more advanced way of splitting up the data than using delimiters. For example, you may wish to separate the data where one of a set of characters occurs, or a variable length of a set of characters occurs.

Configuration

Inputs

A single String attribute.

Options

Option	Type	Purpose	Default Value
Regular expression	Regular expression	The regular expression to be used as a delimiter to split the data	None

Outputs

Data attributes

Data attribute	Type	Purpose	Value
RegExSplit	Derived	A new Array attribute with the result of the RegEx Split	The result of the RegEx split. Note that the data that matched the regular expression itself acts as a delimiter, and so does not appear in the array.

Flags

Flag attribute	Purpose	Possible Values
RegExSplitSuccess	To indicate whether the RegEx Replace was successful or not	Y/N

Execution

Execution Mode	Supported
Batch	Yes
Real time Monitoring	Yes
Real time Response	Yes

Results Browsing

The RegEx Split processor produces a summary view of its results, showing the following statistics:

Statistic	Meaning
Success	The number of records which were split using the regular expression.
Failure	The number of records which were not split using the regular expression.

Output Filters

The following output filters are available from the RegEx Split processor:

Records with a successful split
Records with an unsuccessful split

Example

In this example, RegEx Split is used to split data from a Notes attribute on an Employees table either side of a person's initials (2 or 3 upper case characters found in a sequence).

Regular expression: ([A-Z]{2,3})

Results (successful splits):