Parameter
Last updated on
Jan. 11, 2022
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Also applies to ColdFusion
Description
Uses a regular expression (RE) to search a string for a pattern. The search is case sensitive. For more information on regular expressions, including escape sequences, anchors, and modifiers, see Using Regular Expressions in Functions in the Developing ColdFusion Applications.
Returns
Depends on the value of the returnsubexpressions__parameter:
- If returnsubexpressions = "False":
- The position in the string where the match begins
- 0, if the regular expression is not matched in the string
- If returnsubexpressions = "True": a structure that contains two arrays, len and pos. The array elements are as follows:
- If the regular expression is found in the string, the first element of the len and pos arrays contains the length and position, respectively, of the first match of the entire regular expression.
- If the regular expression contains parentheses that group subexpressions, each subsequent array element contains the length and position, respectively, of the first occurrence of each group.
- If the regular expression is not found in the string, the first element of the len and pos arrays contains 0.
Category
History
- ColdFusion (2018 release) Update 5: Added the flag useJavaAsRegexEngine to Application.cfc. Enable this flag to use Java Regex as the default regex engine. For more information, see Application variables. For information on using Regular Expression using the flag, see Using Regular Expressions.
- ColdFusion (2016 release): Added the scope parameter.
Function syntax
REFind(reg_expression, string [, start, returnsubexpressions, scope ] )
See also
Parameters
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Description |
|---|---|
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reg_expression |
Regular expression for which to search. Case sensitive. |
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string |
A string, or a variable that contains one, in which to search. |
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start |
Optional. A positive integer, or a variable that contains one. Position in the string at which to start search. The default value is 1. |
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returnsubexpressions |
Optional. Boolean. Whether to return substrings of reg_expression, in arrays named len and pos:
|
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scope |
Optional
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Usage
This function finds the first occurrence of a regular expression in a string. To find the second and subsequent instances of the expression or of subexpressions in it, you call this function more than once, each time with a different start position. To determine the next start position, use the returnsubexpressions__parameter, and add the value returned in the first element of the length array to the value in the first element of the position array.
Examples
Examples using the scope parameter
<cfscript>
// when start=1, returnSubexpressions=true, and scope="one"
writeDump(REFind("[A-Z]+", "ColdFusion 123!",1,true,"one"));
</cfscript>
Output
<cfscript>
// when start=1, returnSubexpressions=true, and scope="all"
writeDump(REFind("[A-Z]+", "ColdFusion 123!",1,true,"all"));
</cfscript>
Output
<cfscript>
// when start=1, returnSubexpressions=true, and scope="one"
writeDump(REFind("[a-z]+", "ColdFusion 123!",1,true,"one"));
</cfscript>
Output
<cfscript>
// when start=1, returnSubexpressions=true, and scope="all"
writeDump(REFind("[a-z]+", "ColdFusion 123!",1,true,"all"));
</cfscript>
Output
