Skip to content

regexp-like-transact-sql.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
100 lines (69 loc) · 3.31 KB

regexp-like-transact-sql.md

File metadata and controls

100 lines (69 loc) · 3.31 KB
title REGEXP_LIKE (Transact-SQL)
description REGEXP_LIKE Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the text input matches the regex pattern.
author MikeRayMSFT
ms.author mikeray
ms.reviewer abhtiwar, wiassaf, randolphwest
ms.date 05/19/2025
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
dev_langs
TSQL
monikerRange = sql-server-ver17 || = sql-server-linux-ver17 || =azuresqldb-current || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric

REGEXP_LIKE (Transact-SQL) preview

[!INCLUDE sqlserver2025-asdb-asmi-fabric]

[!INCLUDE preview]

Indicates if the regular expression pattern matches in a string.

REGEXP_LIKE 
     (
      string_expression,
      pattern_expression [, flags ]
     )

REGEXP_LIKE requires database compatibility level 170 and above. If the database compatibility level is lower than 170, REGEXP_LIKE is not available. Other regular expression scalar functions are available at all compatibility levels.

You can check compatibility level in the sys.databases view or in database properties. You can change the compatibility level of a database with the following command:

ALTER DATABASE [DatabaseName] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 170;

Arguments

string_expression

[!INCLUDE regexp-string-expression]

pattern_expression

[!INCLUDE regexp-pattern-expression]

flags

[!INCLUDE regexp-flags-expression]

Return value

Boolean value. true or false.

Remarks

To enhance the accuracy of cardinality estimation for the REGEXP_LIKE function, you can use the ASSUME_FIXED_MIN_SELECTIVITY_FOR_REGEXP and ASSUME_FIXED_MAX_SELECTIVITY_FOR_REGEXP query hints to adjust the default selectivity values. For more information, see Query hints.

Examples

Select all records from the EMPLOYEES table where the first name starts with A and ends with Y

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES WHERE REGEXP_LIKE (FIRST_NAME, '^A.*Y$');

Select all records from the ORDERS table where the order date is in February 2020.

SELECT * FROM ORDERS WHERE REGEXP_LIKE (ORDER_DATE, '2020-02-\d\d');

Select all records from the PRODUCTS table where the product name contains at least three consecutive vowels

SELECT * FROM PRODUCTS WHERE REGEXP_LIKE (PRODUCT_NAME, '[AEIOU]{3,}');

Create employees table with CHECK constraints for Email and Phone_Number columns.

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS EMPLOYEES;

CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEES (  
    ID INT IDENTITY(101,1),  
    [Name] VARCHAR(150),  
    Email VARCHAR(320)  
    CHECK (REGEXP_LIKE(Email, '^[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,}$')),  
    Phone_Number NVARCHAR(20)  
    CHECK (REGEXP_LIKE (Phone_Number, '^(\d{3})-(\d{3})-(\d{4})$'))  
);

Related content