Regular Expression generator
The Regular Expression generator creates data based on a regular expression. In the Fill settings section, you can set up basic and custom settings.
Custom settings
Snippet: Insert a snippet into the expression.
Counter: Insert a counter into the expression.
File: Insert a file into the expression.
Column: Insert a column into the expression.
Generator: Insert a generator into the expression.
Preview of the column data generated by the Regular Expression generator
Syntax elements
Basic
| Description | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ordinary chars | John | “John” |
| individual chars | [dB] | “d” or “B” |
| [star-end] range | [0-9] | “2” or “5” |
| [chars] character set | [a-z0-9] | “7” or “q” |
| [exclude chars] character set | [^B-E] | “A” or “D” |
| initial ] in char set | []] | ”]” |
| (regexp) grouping | (abc)*d | “abcabcd” or “d” |
| * zero or more | abc* | “abcccc” or “cb” |
| +1 or more | abc+ | “abcccc” or “abc” |
| ? include or not | abc? | “ab” or “abc” |
| {num} repeat | c{4} | “cccc” |
| {min,} at least min repeats | c{4,} | “cccc” or “cccccccccc” |
| {,max} not more than max repeats | c{,4} | “cc” or “cccc” |
| {min, max} repeat | c{3,4} | “ccc” or “cccc” |
| 0 | empty string | |
| |alternatives | True|False | “True” or “False” |
| empty alternative | (|dark|light)gray | “darkgray” or “gray” |
| numeric counter | ${counter([0-9]{4})} or ${counter(\d{4})} | 0000, 0001, 0002, …, 9997, 9998, 9999 |
| numeric counter decrement order | ${counter([9876543210]{4})} | 9999, 9998, 9997, …, 0002, 0001, 0000 |
| char counter | ${counter([A-Z]{2})} or ${counter(\C{2})} | AA, AB, AC, … ZX, ZY, ZZ |
| char counter decrement order | ${counter([ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA]{2})} | ZZ, ZY, ZX, …, AC, AB, AA |
| hex counter | ${counter([0-9a-f]{5})} or ${counter(\h){5}} | 00000, 00001, 00002, …, ffffd, ffffe, fffff |
| hex counter decrement order | ${counter([FEDCBA9876543210]{5})} | FFFFF, FFFFE, FFFFD, …, 00002, 00001, 00000 |
| custom IDs | (ID(${counter([1-9]{3})})) | ID111, ID112, ID113, …, ID997, ID998, ID999 |
| loading a TXT file content from the default folder | $”FirstNamesMale.txt” | John or Alen or Glen |
| loading a TXT file content from a user folder | $”D:\folder_name\FirstNamesMale.txt” | John or Alen or Glen |
| loading a CSV file content from the default folder [csv_second_column] | $”USStates.csv[1]” | Ohio or Iowa or Texas |
| loading a CSV file content from a user folder [csv_first_column] | $”D:\folder_name\USStates.csv[0]” | OH or IA or TX |
| loading column content from the same table | $”[Gender]” | F or M |
| loading column content from other table | $”[HumanResources].[Employee].[Gender]” | F or M |
| loading column content from a query | $”[SELECT * FROM [HumanResources].[Employee] WHERE [OrganizationLevel] = 1].[Gender]” | F or M |
| loading column content from a query of other connection | $”[connection_name].[SELECT * FROM [HumanResources].[Employee] WHERE [OrganizationLevel] = 1].[Gender]” | F or M |
| generating values according to their weight ration | Ohio$”10”|Iowa$”50”|Texas$”90” | Texas or Texas or Texas or Iowa or Texas |
| generating values from a predefined generator | $”IPv4 Address” | 10.0.0.4 or 192.168.1.2 |
Escapes
| Description | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| backslash | \ | \ |
| dollar sign | $ | $ |
| ordinary chars | { | { |
| right brace | } | } |
| left square bracket | [ | [ |
| right square bracket | ] | ] |
| left parenthesis | ( | ( |
| right parenthesis | ) | ) |
| alternation operator | | | | |
| asterisk | * | * |
| plus mark | + | + |
| question mark | \? | ? |
| lowercase letter | \c | [a-z] |
| uppercase letter | \C | [A-Z] |
| upper- or lowercase letter | \A | [a-zA-Z] |
| upper- or lowercase letter or underscore or digit | \w | [a-zA-Z_0-9] |
| all ASCII printable characters | \W | [-~] |
| digit | \d | [0-9] |
| digit without a zero | \D | [1-9] |
| bit | \b | [0-1] |
| hexadecimal character | \h | [0-9a-f] |
| HEXADECIMAL charcater | \H | [0-9A-F] |
| carriage return | \r | |
| line feed | \l | |
| tab character | \t | |
| space characters | \s | [\t] |
| unicode (UTF-16) escapes | \u20ac | € |
| hexadecimal escapes | \xA3 | £ |
Additionally, you can use Snippet to add the following snippets:
| Snippets | Description |
|---|---|
| [a-z] | lowercase letter |
| [A-Z] | uppercase letter |
| [0-9] | digit |
| \D | digit without a zero |
| \h | hexadeciaml character |
| [ ] | space |
| \w | upper- or lowercase letter or underscore or digit |
| \W | all ASCII printable characters |
| | | alternative |
| () | group |
| * | 0 or more repeats |
| + | 1 or more repeats |
| {5} | 5 repeats |
| {5,9} | 5 to 9 repeats |
| {5,} | 5 or more repeats |