Home Reference Expression functions 

Pattern matching

String patterns

You can use string patterns anywhere an expression function needs a name (such as a parameter or node name) to match multiple things at once.

*

Matches any string.

?

Matches any single character.

[chars]

Matches any of the characters between the square brackets. This does not support character ranges using a hyphen (you cannot do a-z).

^pattern

Removes strings matching pattern from the previous match.

@pattern

Matches object group, channel group, and/or bundle (depending on context).

Examples:

geo*

Matches everything beginning with “geo”.

[gG]eo*

Matches everything beginning with “geo” or “Geo”.

?eo*

Matches everything that has any character followed by “eo” and then any number of characters.

* ^geo1

Matches everything except the string “geo1”.

Numeric patterns in the Group node

*

Matches all points/primitives.

number

Matches a single number.

start-end

Matches all numbers in a range (inclusive).

start-end:step

Matches all numbers in a range, matching only every stepthe number.

!pattern

Matches everything except pattern.

^pattern

Removes numbers matching pattern from the previous match.

Examples:

10-20

Match numbers 10 through 20 (including 10 and 20).

0-30:2

Match every other number between 0 and 30 (0, 2, 4, 6, … 30).

0-30:2,3

Match every 2 of 3 numbers between 0 and 30 (0, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, … 30).

!3-5

Match everything except 3-5.

0-100:2 ^10-20

Match every other number between 0 and 100 except for numbers between 10 and 20.

Notes

  • Separate multiple patterns with spaces. Commas are not allowed as separator characters.