Re: Need help with a regex pattern

On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 11:54 AM <smith5646midrange@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It would be a ton more than 3 because I also want [punctuation/syntax]

Though it's ugly and ridiculously verbose, it may well be faster than
the "pure" regex approach in SQL.

As for having a variable search pattern:

Is there a way to build an expression so I can provide a variable value at
run time rather than freeing and recompiling the pattern every time the
variable changes?

By "recompiling the pattern" you don't mean recompiling the whole
program, do you? You really mean *just* the pattern, right? (I'm
trying to clarify because I don't really use ILE or APIs very much,
and the phrase "recompile the regex pattern" usually refers to
something that does occur during *run* time.)

Assuming my understanding of compiled regex patterns is correct, I
think the answer is no. I don't think a pattern can have a variable
portion. Even so, I don't think the overhead of recompiling a regex
pattern is that expensive compared to the apparent cost of doing it in
SQL (unless Birgitta can swoop in with a better way that nobody else
thought of).

John Y.