G3REGEXP - Quick Reference Guide

Fast reference for using RegExp (Regular Expressions) in G3 AxonASP

Creating a RegExp Object

Dim regex
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
' Or use alias:
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("REGEXP")
        

Properties (Using SetProperty/GetProperty)

Property	Type	Description	Example
Pattern	String	The regular expression pattern	`regex.SetProperty "pattern", "\d+"`
IgnoreCase	Boolean	Case-insensitive matching (default: False)	`regex.SetProperty "ignorecase", True`
Global	Boolean	Find all matches (default: False for first match only)	`regex.SetProperty "global", True`
MultiLine	Boolean	^ and $ match line boundaries (default: False)	`regex.SetProperty "multiline", True`

Methods

Test(inputString) → Boolean

Check if the pattern matches the string. Returns True or False.

Example:

Dim regex, result
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "^\d{3}-\d{4}$"
result = regex.Test("555-1234")  ' Returns: True
            

Execute(inputString) → RegExpMatches Collection

Find all (or first) matches and return a collection of matches.

Example:

Dim regex, matches, match, i
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "\d+"
regex.SetProperty "global", True

Set matches = regex.Execute("I have 10 apples and 25 oranges")

For i = 0 To matches.Count - 1
    Set match = matches.Item(i)
    Response.Write match.Value & " at index " & match.FirstIndex & "
"
Next

' Output:
' 10 at index 8
' 25 at index 25
            

Match Object Properties:

Value - The matched text
FirstIndex or Index - Position in string (1-based)
Length - Length of the match
Count - Total number of matches (on collection)

Replace(inputString, replacement) → String

Replace matched patterns with replacement text.

Example:

Dim regex, result
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "\d+"
regex.SetProperty "global", True

result = regex.Replace("Order 123 with 5 items", "[NUM]")
' Result: "Order [NUM] with [NUM] items"
            

Common Patterns

Pattern	Description	Example
`\d+`	One or more digits	123, 2024
`[a-z]+`	One or more lowercase letters	hello, world
`^text$`	Exact match (start and end)	Matches "text" exactly
`\w+`	One or more word characters	word, test_var
`[aeiou]`	Any vowel	a, e, i, o, u
`\b\w+\b`	Complete words	Uses word boundaries

Practical Examples

1. Email Validation

Function IsValidEmail(email)
    Dim regex
    Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
    regex.SetProperty "pattern", "^[a-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,}$"
    IsValidEmail = regex.Test(email)
End Function

If IsValidEmail("user@example.com") Then
    Response.Write "Valid email"
End If
            

2. Extract All Numbers from Text

Dim regex, matches, i
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "\d+"
regex.SetProperty "global", True

Set matches = regex.Execute("Invoice #2024001 for $1500.99")

Response.Write "Numbers found: "
For i = 0 To matches.Count - 1
    If i > 0 Then Response.Write ", "
    Response.Write matches.Item(i).Value
Next
' Output: "Numbers found: 2024001, 1500, 99"
            

3. Clean Up Text

Dim regex, result Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP") ' Remove extra whitespace regex.SetProperty "pattern", "\s+" regex.SetProperty "global", True result = regex.Replace("hello world", " ") ' Result: "hello world" ' Remove HTML tags regex.SetProperty "pattern", "<[^>]+>" result = regex.Replace("

Hello

", "") ' Result: "Hello"

4. Phone Number Validation

Dim regex
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "^(\+1)?[-.\s]?\(?[0-9]{3}\)?[-.\s]?[0-9]{3}[-.\s]?[0-9]{4}$"

' All of these would match:
' 555-123-4567
' (555) 123-4567
' 5551234567
' +1-555-123-4567
            

5. Replace with Multiple Occurrences

Dim regex, result
Set regex = Server.CreateObject("G3REGEXP")
regex.SetProperty "pattern", "[aeiou]"
regex.SetProperty "ignorecase", True
regex.SetProperty "global", True

result = regex.Replace("Hello World", "*")
' Result: "H*ll* W*rld"
            

Common Metacharacters

Metacharacter	Meaning
`.`	Any character (except newline)
`*`	Zero or more of previous character
`+`	One or more of previous character
`?`	Zero or one of previous character
`^`	Start of string
`$`	End of string
`[...]`	Character class (one of ...)
`[^...]`	Negated character class (not ...)
`\d`	Digit (0-9)
`\w`	Word character (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)
`\s`	Whitespace

Test Your Patterns

Visit test_regexp.asp for a comprehensive test suite with examples of all features.