Oracle Regular Expressions Pocket Reference

by Gennick, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9780596006013
• ISBN10: 0596006012
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

This concise new pocket guide is part tutorial and part quick-reference. The book describes Oracle Database 10G's use of regular expressions, including globalization support and differences between Perl's syntax and the POSIX syntax supported by Oracle 10G. Co-authored by a key member of the Oracle Regular Expressions team, this resourceful book also provides a comprehensive reference, including examples, to all supported regular expression operators, functions, and error messages. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, Oracle Regular Expressions Pocket Reference delivers just what Oracle users need to complete the task at hand.

Author Biography

Jonathan Gennick is an O'Reilly & Associates editor specializing in database and programming titles. Prior to joining O'Reilly, Jonathan amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience. During the latter part of his career he specialized in relational database programming, and more recently in database management. Jonathan got his start with relational database systems in 1990, first working with Ingres, and later with Digital's Rdb software. During that period he developed a fondness for SQL, and for the challenge of applying SQL creatively in ways that leveraged it's set-oriented capabilities. In 1994 Jonathan made the leap to Oracle, and is now often found writing about it. Recent projects include Oracle SQLLoader (O'Reilly & Associates, 2001); Oracle SQLPlus Pocket Reference (O'Reilly & Associates, 2000); Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999); More recently, Jonathan has made forays into other database products, coauthoring Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) and editing Practical PostgreSQL (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002). Jonathan is certified as an Oracle DBA and is a member of MENSA and the Oracle Technology Network. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Science, with a Business Administration minor, from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Jonathan currently resides in Munising, Michigan with his wife Donna and their two children: Jenny and Jeff. Jonathan may be contacted by email at [e-mail], and you can learn more about him personally by visiting his website at http://gennick.com.

Peter Linsley began his career in the computer industry as a localization engineer focusing on QA of the Oracle Database. He later relocated to Oracle headquarters in California where he acted as a Globalization consultant specializing in the database, and was responsible for developing solutions to aid database character set migration to Unicode. Peter first met with regular expressions in a SED class at Napier University of Edinburgh and has been a devoted UNIX command line addict ever since. During his tenure at Oracle, he dreamt of a world where all developers had access to regular expressions and decided to make it a personal mission to ensure that would become a reality for users of Oracle. In 2003, Peter was fortunate enough to realize this dream and landed a pivotal role in the design and implementation of Oracle Regular Expressions.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Tutorial	p. 4
Patterns	p. 4
Regular Expressions	p. 5
Bracket Expressions	p. 7
The Escape Character	p. 10
Subexpressions	p. 11
Alternation	p. 12
Greediness	p. 14
Backreferences	p. 15
Fuzziness	p. 18
Oracle's Regular Expression Support	p. 19
Regular Expression Functions	p. 19
Regular Expression Locale Support	p. 20
Regular Expression Matching Options	p. 22
Standards Compliance	p. 23
Differences Between Perl and Oracle	p. 25
Regular Expression Quick Reference	p. 29
\ (Backslash)	p. 30
\1 through \9 (Backslash)	p. 31
.(Period)	p. 31
[caret] (Caret)	p. 32
$ (Dollar Sign)	p. 34
[] (Square Brackets)	p. 34
[..] (Collation Element)	p. 36
[::] (Character Class)	p. 38
[= =] (Equivalence Class)	p. 39
* (Asterisk)	p. 39
+ (Plus Sign)	p. 41
? (Question Mark)	p. 42
{} (Curly Braces)	p. 42
Vertical Bar ( )	p. 43
() (Parentheses)	p. 45
Oracle Regular Expression Functions	p. 45
REGEXPöINSTR	p. 46
REGEXPöLIKE	p. 49
REGEXPöREPLACE	p. 51
REGEXPöSUBSTR	p. 55
Oracle Regular Expression Error Messages	p. 58
ORA-01760: illegal argument for function	p. 58
ORA-12722: regular expression internal error	p. 58
ORA-12725: unmatched parentheses in regular expression	p. 59
ORA-12726: unmatched bracket in regular expression	p. 59
ORA-12727: invalid back reference in regular expression	p. 59
ORA-12728: invalid range in regular expression	p. 59
ORA-12729: invalid character class in regular expression	p. 60
ORA-12730: invalid equivalence class in regular expression	p. 60
ORA-12371: invalid collation class in regular expression	p. 60
ORA-12732: invalid interval value in regular expression	p. 60
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