# Regular expressions in Fsql, via plugin or builtin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Archived Topics\ **Created:** [November 12, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871 "2008-11-12T21:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dravik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dravik](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Dravik)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/1 "2008-11-12T21:37:04Z")
I took a peak through the FSQL expression language, Didn’t find an easy way to do regular expressions. Am I missing a built-in function? Or is this more of a plugin style thing. Thanks, Mike ---
**Author:** ![Colby.Clegg](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/colby.clegg/32/3282_2.png) [@Colby.Clegg](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Colby.Clegg)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/2 "2008-11-12T22:12:21Z")
Currently there aren’t any functions that deal with regular expressions. However, you certainly could make a plugin if you were so inclined. Feel free to post if you need more information about how to do this. Regards, ---
**Author:** ![nathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nathan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nathan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/3 "2008-11-12T22:55:32Z")
Sounds like a great feature request (which I entered, of course)! ---
**Author:** ![Dravik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dravik](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Dravik)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/4 "2008-11-13T13:31:17Z")
Cool! We’ll give the plugin approach a shot here for now. Thanks! Mike ---
**Author:** ![Dravik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dravik](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Dravik)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/5 "2008-11-19T15:54:24Z")
Bit of feedback, The programming working with me on the project had a plugin whipped up in about an hour. Works great thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Carl.Gould](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/carl.gould/32/7262_2.png) [@Carl.Gould](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Carl.Gould)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/6 "2008-11-19T16:01:13Z")
If possible, would you mind sharing the plugin that you guys created? Looks like it would help these folks: [viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3764](http://www.inductiveautomation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3764) ---
**Author:** ![Dravik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dravik](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Dravik)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/7 "2008-11-19T16:09:53Z")
Sadly the one we wrote is very specific, so unless you are trying to run against an Anemometer’s output it may not be terribly useful to you. I’ll ask the programmer if he minds sharing the code later today though, Probably build what you need off of that. ---
**Author:** ![Carl.Gould](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/carl.gould/32/7262_2.png) [@Carl.Gould](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Carl.Gould)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/regular-expressions-in-fsql-via-plugin-or-builtin/871/8 "2008-11-19T16:21:09Z")
Fair enough, I’m sure anything would make for a good springboard. We’ll probably just end up writing a generic one and posting it up here.