Regex for limiting data input

[JakeCarter]

Afternoon all,

I am having issues with some regex creation for one of our forms and wanted some pointers or if anyone has had to do anything similar to this.

 

For recruitment they have 3 different types of codes they need to capture when customers raise a request. I have made them separately but now they need to be put on to one field.

 

123-ABC-A-1234-A

^([0-9]{3})-([A-Z]{3})-([A-Z]{1})-([0-9]{4})-([A-Z]{1})$

 

123-ABC-1234

^([0-9]{3})-([A-Z]{3})-([0-9]{4})$

 

123-ABC-A-1234

^([0-9]{3})-([A-Z]{3})-([A-Z]{1})-([0-9]{4})$

 

I've spent a few hours trying to combine these in to one statement. Has anyone got any pointers or examples?

 

Many Thanks in advance

 

 

[Steve Giller]

My first test would be alternation, although a combination of not being RegEx experts and knowing precisely what you're trying to achieve means this is just a best guess.

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @Jake Carter

Give this one a try

^(\d{3})-([A-Z]{3}-)([A-Z]{1}-)?(\d{4})(-[A-Z]{1})?$

Broken down...

(\d{3})- = 3 digits followed by a dash

([A-Z]{3}-)  = 3 upper case characters followed by a -

([A-Z]{1}-)? = 1 optional upper case character and optional -

(\d{4}) = 4 digits

(-[A-Z]{1})? = 1 optional - and uppercase character

 

I'm also no RegEx expert, so I can't say for sure if this covers absolutely every case.  See how you go with this and let us know if it works.

 

[JakeCarter]

9 hours ago, James Ainsworth said:

Hi @Jake Carter

Give this one a try

^(\d{3})-([A-Z]{3}-)([A-Z]{1}-)?(\d{4})(-[A-Z]{1})?$

Broken down...

(\d{3})- = 3 digits followed by a dash

([A-Z]{3}-)  = 3 upper case characters followed by a -

([A-Z]{1}-)? = 1 optional upper case character and optional -

(\d{4}) = 4 digits

(-[A-Z]{1})? = 1 optional - and uppercase character

 

I'm also no RegEx expert, so I can't say for sure if this covers absolutely every case.  See how you go with this and let us know if it works.

 

This has worked beautifully! Thank you so much

 

The breakdown has really helped, I have got a few more captures to do and its cleared some things up for me

 

Thank you both again for your help

[Steve Giller]

1 hour ago, JakeCarter said:

The breakdown has really helped

If the breakdown was helpful, I can really recommend RegEx 101 as a testing/learning tool. You get a great explanation panel as well as syntax checking and a full library of expressions.