Reg Exp generator
The Reg Exp generator creates data based on a regular expression. Under Fill settings, you can set up basic and custom settings.
Custom settings
Snippet: Select a snippet to be inserted into the expression.
Counter: Select a counter to be inserted into the expression.
File: Select a file to be inserted into the expression.
Column: Select a column to be inserted into the expression.
Generator: Select a generator to be inserted into the expression.
Syntax elements
Below are the tables of syntax elements.
Basic
| Description | Usage | Generates (examples) |
|---|---|---|
| ordinary chars | John |
"John" |
| individual chars | [dB] |
"d" or "B" |
| [start-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 | (xwz)*y |
"xwzxwzy" or "y" |
| * zero or more | xwz* |
"xwzzzz" or "zw" |
| +1 or more | xwz+ |
"xwzzzz" or "xwz" |
| ? include or not | xwz? |
"xw" or "xwz" |
| {num} repeat | z{4} |
"zzzz" |
| {min,} at least min repeats | z{4,} |
"zzzz" or "zzzzzzzzzz" |
| {,max} not more than max repeats | z{,4} |
"zz" or "zzzz" |
| {min, max} repeat | z{3,4} |
"zzz" or "zzzz" |
| () | 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 TXT file content from the default folder | $"FirstNamesMale.txt" |
John or Alan or Glen |
| loading TXT file content from a user folder | $"D:\folder_name\FirstNamesMale.txt" |
John or Alan or Glen |
| loading CSV file content from the default folder [csv_second_column] | $"USStates.csv[1]" |
Ohio or Iowa or Texas |
| loading 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 other database | $"[AdventureWorks2014].[HumanResources].[Employee].[Gender]" |
F or M |
| loading column content from other connection | $"[connection_name].[AdventureWorks2014].[HumanResources].[Employee].[Gender]" |
F or M |
| loading column content from query | $"[SELECT * FROM [HumanResources].[Employee] WHERE [OrganizationLevel] = 1].[Gender]" |
F or M |
| loading column content from query of other connection | $"[connection_name].[SELECT * FROM [HumanResources].[Employee] WHERE [OrganizationLevel] = 1].[Gender]" |
F or M |
| generating values according to their weight ratio | Ohio$"10"|Iowa$"50"|Texas$"90" |
Texas or Texas or Texas or Iowa or Texas |
| generating values from predefined generator | $"IPv4 Address" |
10.0.0.4 or 192.168.1.2 |
Escapes
| Description | Usage | Generates (examples) |
|---|---|---|
| backslash | \\ |
\ |
| dollar sign | \$ |
$ |
| ordinary chars | \{ |
{ |
| right brace | \} |
} |
| left square bracket | \[ |
[ |
| right square bracket | \] |
] |
| left parenthesis | \( |
( |
| right parenthesis | \) |
) |
| vertical bar | \| |
| |
| asterisk | \* |
* |
| plus mark | \+ |
+ |
| question mark | \? |
? |
| lower-case letter | \c |
[a-z] |
| upper-case letter | \C |
[A-Z] |
| upper or lower-case letter | \A |
[a-zA-Z] |
| upper or lower-case 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 character | \H |
[0-9A-F] |
| carriage return | \r |
|
| line feed | \l |
|
| tab character | \t |
|
| space characters | \s |
|
| unicode (UTF-16) escapes | \u20ac |
€ |
| hexadecimal escapes | \xA3 |
£ |
Snippets
Additionally, you can use the Snippet button to add the following snippets:
| Snippets | Description |
|---|---|
[a-z] |
lower case letter |
[A-Z] |
UPPER case letter |
[0-9] |
digit |
\D |
digit without a zero |
\h |
hexadecimal character |
[ ] |
space |
\w |
UPPER or lower-case 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 |
Generator properties
The table provides key details about the generator, including its short name, examples of generated data, supported data types, and country-specific data.
| Short name | Example of generated data | Data type matching | Country-specific data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reg Exp | T, 72B25HTS … | bigint, binary, bit, date, datetime, datetime2, datetimeoffset, decimal, float, hierarchyid, image, int, money, numeric, real, smalldatetime, smallint, smallmoney, sql_variant, time, tinyint, uniqueidentifier, varbinary(max), varbinary |
Default (United States) |
Matching rules
The generator can be assigned to a column that can have any name, regardless of the table name.
Preview of the column data generated by the Reg Exp generator
