The regular expression (abbreviated as regex or regexp) is a sequence of characters that form a search pattern mainly for use in pattern-matching with strings or string-matching. Functionality is similar to find and replace operations with more complexity and specificity or as a method for excluding defined content. See the wikipedia entry for a detailed description of regexp and a table of used characters.
To use multiple regexps at a time, insert a pipeline character | between them.
Regexps can be used in the filter, search and replace fields in the CAT desktop editor, in the source and target fields of the Search for content feature, for the feature in File import settings and for customizing segmentation rules.
Important
Phrase supports Java regexp, but will reject complex regular expressions to protect the system from overload. Complex regexps are those with quantifiers (except possessives) on groups which contain other quantifiers (except possessives).
Examples for converting text into tags when importing files and using regexp in the editor for search and replace functions:
|
Example |
Description |
|---|---|
|
<[^>]+> |
represents <html_tag> |
|
\{[^\}]+\} |
represents {variable}, |
|
\[[^\]]+\] |
represents [variable], |
|
\[\[.+?\]\] |
represents [[aa[11]bb]]. |
|
\$[^\$]+\$ |
represents $operator_Name1$. |
|
\d+ |
represents numbers. Also, [0-9]+ |
|
[A-Za-z0-9] |
represents any alphanumeric character. |
|
.+\@.+\..+ |
email address name@domain.com |
|
\d{4}[-]\d{2}[-]\d{2} |
the date 2018-08-01 |
|
\s$ |
a whitespace at the end of the segment |
|
^\s |
a whitespace at the beginning of the segment |
|
\s\s |
a double whitespace |
|
^\d |
a digit at the beginning of the segment |
|
\w+\s\s\w+ |
a double whitespace between words |
|
\s\n |
a newline preceded by any whitespace character |
|
\S\n |
a newline preceded by any non-whitespace character |
|
<[^>]+>|\$[^=]+= |
converts php variables and html code ($svariable['name'] =) |
|
^\s*\'[^:]+: |
converts javascript's field key with added whitespaces at the beginning of the line ( 'key' :) |
|
\{\{[^\}]+\}\}|\'[^']+\' |
does not translate {{text here}} '{{text here}} content and converts it to tags |
Examples of regular expressions when importing a specific text:
-
## ErrorMessage ##1## The number must be higher than 0. ##Z##
To import text between ##1## and ##Z## ,use regexp:
(?<=##1## ).*(?= ##Z##) -
ErrorMessage ("The number must be higher than 0.")
To import text between (" and ") , use regexp:
(?<=\(").*(?="\)) -
'errorMessage' = 'The number must be higher than 0.'
To import text after the = sign and between ' and ' , use regexp:
(?<=\= ').*(?=') -
errorMessage = "this is to be translated"
To import text after the = sign and between 'and' use regexp:
(?<=\= ").*(?=") -
msgstr ("The number must be higher than 0.")
To import msgstr strings in monolingual PO files using a TXT filter, use regexp:
(?<=msgstr ").*(?=") -
# Note: This is a note
To exclude lines starting with # , use regexp:
(^[^#].*) -
values '126', 'DCeT', 'Text (en)'
To import only text in quotes and with (en), such as Text (en)' use regexp:
(?<=')[^']*\(en\)(?=')
JSON structure example:
{
"list": {
"id": "1",
"value": "text 1 for translation."
},
"text": {
"id": "2",
"value": "text 2 for translation."
},
"menu": {
"id": "3",
"value": "text 3 for translation."
},"array": ["blue","green"],"arrays": [{ "color": "blue", "title": "BLUE"
}, { "color": "green", "title": "GREEN" } ]}
-
for importing every value regardless of the level, use:
(^|.*/)value -
for importing only one value from a list, use:
list/value -
for importing a value from a list and/or menu, use the | (OR) operator:
list/value|menu/value -
for importing only the first instance of a value from a menu, use:
menu\[1\]/value -
for importing the content of a JSON array following a certain key, use:
(^|.*/)array\[.*\] -
to import the content of a specific array of objects, use:
(^|.*/)arrays\[.*\].*
YAML flie example:
title: A
text: translate A
categories:
title: B
text: translate B
categories:
title: C
text: translate C
categories:
content:
title: D
text: translate D
regexp for importing:
-
only 'translate A' :
text -
only 'translate C':
categories\[2\]/text -
only 'translate D':
categories\[\d+\]/content[\1\]/text -
all text:
text|categories\[\d+\]/text|categories\[\d+\]/content[\d+\]/text
Okapi, Java and Unicode are used for segmentation rules in .SRX files.
Using regexp in .SRX files is complex and a basic knowledge of regular expression use is recommended before attempting to work with them.
Nobreak rules (Abbreviations etc.) and Break rules (End of the sentence with a dot, etc) are in .SRX files.
|
Example |
Description |
|---|---|
|
[\p{C}] |
Invisible control character. |
|
[\p{Z}] |
Whitespace |
|
[\p{Lu}] |
An uppercase letter that has a lowercase variant. |
|
[\p{N}] |
Any kind of numeric character. |
|
\Q ... \E |
Start and end of a quotation - (\QApprox.\E). This is used for Abbreviations. |
|
\t |
Tabulator |
|
\n |
Newline |
|
\u2029 |
Paragraph separator |
|
\u200B |
Zero-width space |
|
\u3002 |
Ideographic full stop |
|
\ufe52 |
Small full stop |
|
\uff0e |
Fullwidth full stop |
|
\uff61 |
Halfwidth ideographic full stop |
|
\ufe56 |
Small question mark |
|
\uff1f |
Fullwidth question mark |
|
\u203c |
Double exclamation mark |
|
\u2048 |
Question exclamation mark |
|
\u2762 |
Heavy exclamation mark ornament |
|
\u2763 |
Heavy heart exclamation mark ornament |
|
\ufe57 |
Small exclamation mark |
|
\uff01 |
Fullwidth exclamation mark |
|
QA Check |
Source Regexp |
Target Regexp |
|---|---|---|
|
Additional numbers in target |
|
|
|
Tags order (unpaired) |
|
|
|
Tags order (unpaired) |
|
|
|
Tags order (unpaired) |
|
|
|
Tags order (paired) |
|
|
|
Tags order (paired) |
|
|
|
Spaces before tags |
|
|
|
Spaces after tags |
|
|
|
No space before tags |
|
|
|
Missing square brackets |
|
|
|
Missing round brackets |
|
|