Astera Data Stack
Version 8
Version 8
  • Welcome to Astera Data Stack Documentation
  • Release Notes
    • Astera 8.0 - What's New, What's Fixed, and What's Improved
    • Astera 8.0 - Known Issues
    • Astera 8.1 - Release Notes
    • Astera 8.2 Release Notes
    • Astera 8.3 Release Notes
    • Astera 8.4 Release Notes
    • Astera 8.5 Release Notes
  • Getting Started
    • Astera 8 - Important Considerations
    • Astera 8 - System Requirements
    • Configuring the Server
    • Connecting to a Different Astera Server from the Lean Client
    • Connecting to an Astera Server using Lean Client
    • How to Build a Cluster Database and Create a Repository
    • How to Login from Lean Client
    • Setting up a Server Certificate (.pfx) File in a New Environment
    • Installing Client and Server Applications
    • Licensing Model in Astera 8
    • Migrating from Astera 7.x to Astera 8
    • UI Walkthrough - Astera 8.0
    • User Roles and Access Control
  • Dataflows
    • Sources
      • Data Providers and File Formats Supported in Astera
      • Setting Up Sources
      • COBOL File Source
      • Database Table Source
      • Data Model Query Source
      • Delimited File Source
      • Email Source
      • Excel Workbook Source
      • File Systems Item Source
      • Fixed Length File Source
      • PDF Form Source
      • Report Source
      • SQL Query Source
      • XML/JSON File Source
    • Transformations
      • Introducing Transformations
      • Aggregate Transformation
      • Constant Value Transformation
      • Data Cleanse Transformation
      • Denormalize Transformation
      • Distinct Transformation
      • Database Lookup Transformation
      • Expression Transformation
      • File Lookup Transformation
      • Filter Transformation
      • Join Transformation
      • List Lookup Transformation
      • Merge Transformation
      • Normalize Transformation
      • Passthru Transformation
      • Reconcile Transformation
      • Route Transformation
      • Sequence Generator Transformation
      • Sort Transformation
      • Sources as Transformations
      • Subflow Transformation
      • SQL Statement Lookup Transformation
      • Switch Transformation
      • Tree Join Transformation
      • Tree Transform
      • Union Transformation
    • Destinations
      • Setting Up Destinations
      • Database Table Destination
      • Delimited File Destination
      • Excel Workbook Destination
      • Fixed Length File Destination
      • SQL Statement Destination
      • XML/JSON File Destination
    • Data Logging and Profiling
      • Creating Data Profile
      • Creating Field Profile
      • Data Quality Mode
      • Record Level Log
      • Using Data Quality Rules in Astera
    • Database Write Strategies
      • Database Diff Processor
      • Data Driven Write Strategy
      • Dimension Loader - Database Write
      • Source Diff Processor
    • Text Processors
      • Delimited Parser
      • Delimited Serializer
      • Fixed Length Parser
      • Fixed Length Serializer
      • Language Parser
      • XML JSON Parser
      • XML JSON Serializer
    • Data Warehouse
      • Fact Table Loader
      • Dimension Table Loader
  • WORKFLOWS
    • What Are Workflows?
    • Using the Workflow Designer
    • Creating Workflows in Astera
    • Decision Task
    • EDI Acknowledgement Task
    • File System Task
    • File Transfer Task
    • OR Task
    • Run Dataflow Task
    • Run Program Task
    • Run SQL File Task
    • Run SQL Script Task
    • Run Workflow Task
    • Send Mail Task
    • Workflows with a Dynamic Destination Path
    • Customizing Workflows with Parameters
    • GPG-Integrated File Decryption in Astera
  • Subflows
    • Using Subflows in Astera
  • Functions
    • Introducing Function Transformations
    • Custom Functions
    • Logical
      • Coalesce (Any value1, Any value2)
      • IsNotNull (AnyValue)
      • IsRealNumber (AnyValue)
      • IsValidSqlDate (Date)
      • IsDate (AnyValue)
      • If (Boolean)
      • If (DateTime)
      • If (Double)
      • Exists
      • If (Int64)
      • If (String)
      • IsDate (str, strformat)
      • IsInteger (AnyValue)
      • IsNullOrWhitespace (StringValue)
      • IsNullorEmpty (StringValue)
      • IsNull (AnyValue)
      • IsNumeric (AnyValue)
    • Conversion
      • GetDateComponents (DateWithOffset)
      • ParseDate (Formats, Str)
      • GetDateComponents (Date)
      • HexToInteger (Any Value)
      • ToInteger (Any value)
      • ToDecimal (Any value)
      • ToReal (Any value)
      • ToDate (String dateStr)
      • TryParseDate (String, UnknownDate)
      • ToString (Any value)
      • ToString (DateValue)
      • ToString (Any data, String format)
    • Math
      • Abs (Double)
      • Abs (Decimal)
      • Ceiling (Real)
      • Ceiling(Decimal)
      • Floor (Decimal)
      • Floor (Real)
      • Max (Decimal)
      • Max (Date)
      • Min (Decimal)
      • Min (Date)
      • Max (Real)
      • Max (Integer)
      • Min (Real)
      • Pow (BaseExponent)
      • Min (Integer)
      • RandomReal (Int)
      • Round (Real)
      • Round (Real Integer)
      • Round (Decimal Integer)
      • Round (Decimal)
    • Financial
      • DDB
      • FV
      • IPmt
      • IPmt (FV)
      • Pmt
      • Pmt (FV)
      • PPmt
      • PPmt (FV)
      • PV (FV)
      • Rate
      • Rate (FV)
      • SLN
      • SYD
    • String
      • Center (String)
      • Chr (IntAscii)
      • Asc (String)
      • AddCDATAEnvelope
      • Concatenate (String)
      • ContainsAnyChar (String)
      • Contains (String)
      • Compact (String)
      • Find (Int64)
      • EndsWith (String)
      • FindIntStart (Int32)
      • Extract (String)
      • GetFindCount (Int64)
      • FindLast (Int64)
      • GetDigits (String)
      • GetLineFeed
      • Insert (String)
      • IsAlpha
      • GetToken
      • IndexOf
      • IsBlank
      • IsLower
      • IsUpper
      • IsSubstringOf
      • Length (String)
      • LeftOf (String)
      • Left (String)
      • IsValidName
      • Mid (String)
      • PadLeft
      • Mid (String Chars)
      • LSplit (String)
      • PadRight
      • ReplaceAllSpecialCharsWithSpace
      • RemoveChars (String str, StringCharsToRemove)
      • ReplaceLast
      • RightAlign
      • Reverse
      • Right (String)
      • RSplit (String)
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords (2 Separators)
      • SplitString (3 separators)
      • SplitString
      • SplitStringMultipleRecords (3 Separators)
      • Trim
      • SubString (NoOfChars)
      • StripHtml
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      • TrimExtraMiddleSpace
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      • PascalCaseWithSpace (String str)
      • Trim (String str)
      • ToLower(String str)
      • ToProper(String str)
      • ToUpper (String str)
      • Substring (String str, Integer startAt)
      • StartsWith (String str, String value)
      • RemoveAt (String str, Integer startAt, Integer noofChars)
      • Proper (String str)
      • Repeat (String str, Integer count)
      • ReplaceAll (String str, String lookFor, String replaceWith)
      • ReplaceFirst (String str, String lookFor, String replaceWith)
      • RightOf (String str, String lookFor)
      • RemoveChars (String str, String charsToRemove)
      • SplitString (String str, String separator1, String separator2)
    • Date Time
      • AddMinutes (DateTime)
      • AddDays (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddDays (DateTime)
      • AddHours (DateTime)
      • AddSeconds (DateTime)
      • AddMonths (DateTime)
      • AddMonths (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddMinutes (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddSeconds (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddYears (DateTimeOffset)
      • AddYears (DateTime)
      • Age (DateTime)
      • Age (DateTimeOffset)
      • CharToSeconds (Str)
      • DateDifferenceDays (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceDays (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceHours (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceHours (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceMonths (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceMonths (DateTime)
      • DatePart (DateTimeOffset)
      • DatePart (DateTime)
      • DateDifferenceYears (DateTimeOffset)
      • DateDifferenceYears (DateTime)
      • Month (DateTime)
      • Month (DateTimeOffset)
      • Now
      • Quarter (DateTime)
      • Quarter (DateTimeOffset)
      • Second (DateTime)
      • Second (DateTimeOffset)
      • SecondsToChar (String)
      • TimeToInteger (DateTime)
      • TimeToInteger (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDate Date (DateTime)
      • ToDate DateTime (DateTime)
      • ToDateString (DateTime)
      • ToDateTimeOffset-Date (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDate DateTime (DateTimeOffset)
      • ToDateString (DateTimeOffset)
      • Today
      • ToLocal (DateTime)
      • ToJulianDate (DateTime)
      • ToJulianDayNumber (DateTime)
      • ToTicks (Date dateTime)
      • ToTicks (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • ToUnixEpoc (Date dateTime)
      • ToUtc (Date dateTime)
      • UnixTimeStampToDateTime (Real unixTimeStamp)
      • UtcNow ()
      • Week (Date dateTime)
      • Week (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Year (Date dateTime)
      • Year (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToJulian (Date dateTime, Integer length)
      • DateTimeOffsetUtcNow ()
      • DateTimeOffsetNow ()
      • Day (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Day (Date dateTime)
      • DayOfWeekStr (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DayOfWeek (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DayOfWeek (Date dateTime)
      • DateToJulian (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime, Integer length)
      • DayOfWeekStr (Date dateTime)
      • FromJulianDate (Real julianDate)
      • DayOfYear (Date dateTime)
      • DaysInMonth(Integer year, Integer month)
      • DayOfYear (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • FromUnixEpoc
      • FromJulianDayNumber (Integer julianDayNumber)
      • FromTicksUtc(Integer ticks)
      • FromTicksLocal(Integer ticks)
      • Hour (Date dateTime)
      • Hour (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • Minute (Date dateTime)
      • JulianToDate (String julianDate)
      • Minute (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToIntegerYYYYMMDD (DateTimeWithOffset dateTime)
      • DateToIntegerYYYYMMDD (Date dateTime)
    • Files
      • AppendTextToFile (String filePath, String text)
      • CopyFile (String sourceFilePath, String destFilePath, Boolean overWrite)
      • CreateDateTime (String filePath)
      • DeleteFile (String filePath)
      • DirectoryExists (String filePath)
      • FileExists (String filePath)
      • FileLength (String filePath)
      • FileLineCount (String filePath)
      • GetDirectory (String filePath)
      • GetEDIFileMetaData (String filePath)
      • GetExcelWorksheets (String excelFilePath)
      • GetFileExtension (String filePath)
      • GetFileInfo (String filePath)
      • GetFileName (String filePath)
      • GetFileNameWithoutExtension (String filePath)
      • LastUpdateDateTime (String filePath)
      • MoveFile (String filePath, String newDirectory)
      • ReadFileBytes (String filePath)
      • ReadFileFirstLine (String filePath)
      • ReadFileText (String filePath)
      • ReadFileText (String filePath, String codePage)
      • WriteBytesToFile (String filePath, ByteArray bytes)
      • WriteTextToFile (String filePath, String text)
    • Date Time With Offset
      • ToDateTimeOffsetFromDateTime (dateTime String)
      • ToUtc (DateTimeWithOffset)
      • ToDateTimeOffsetFromDateTime
      • ToDateTimeOffset (String dateTimeOffsetStr)
      • ToDateTimeFromDateTimeOffset
    • GUID
      • NewGuid
    • Encoding
      • ToBytes
      • FromBytes
      • UrlEncode
      • UrlDecode
    • Regular Expressions
      • ReplaceRegEx
      • ReplaceRegEx (Integer StartAt)
    • TimeSpan
      • Minutes
      • Hours
      • Days
      • Milliseconds
    • Matching
      • Soundex
      • DoubleMetaphone
      • RefinedSoundex
  • Report Model
    • User Guide
      • Report Model Tutorial
    • Report Model Interface
      • Field Properties Panel
      • Region Properties Panel
      • Report Browser
      • Report Options
    • Use Cases
      • Applying Pattern to Line
      • Auto Creating Data Regions and Fields
      • Auto-Parsing
      • Creating Multi-Column Data Regions
      • Floating Patterns and Floating Fields
      • How To Work With PDF Scaling Factor in a Report Model
      • Line Count
      • Pattern Count
      • Pattern is a Regular Expression
    • Exporting Options
      • Exporting a Report Model
      • Exporting Report Model to a Dataflow
    • Miscellaneous
      • Importing Monarch Models
      • Microsoft Word and Rich Text Format Support
      • Working With Problematic PDF Files
  • API Flows
    • API Consumption
      • Consume
        • REST API Browser
        • Making HTTP Requests Through REST API Browser
        • Using REST Client Outside of the Scope of the Project
      • Authorize
        • Authorizing ActiveCampaign API in Astera
        • Authorizing Astera Server APIs
        • Authorizing Avaza APIs in Astera
        • Authorizing Facebook APIs in Astera
        • Authorizing QuickBooks API in Astera
        • Authorizing Square API in Astera
        • Open APIs - Configuration Details
  • Project Management
    • Project Management
      • Astera's Project Explorer
      • Connecting to Source Control
      • Deployment
      • Server Monitoring and Job Management
    • Job Scheduling
      • Scheduling Jobs on the Server
      • Job Monitor
  • Use Cases
    • End-to-End Use Cases
      • Data Integration
        • Using Astera to Create and Orchestrate an ETL Process for Partner Onboarding
      • Data Warehousing
        • Building a Data Warehouse - A Step-By-Step Approach
      • Data Extraction
        • Reusing The Extraction Template for Similar Layout Files
  • Connectors
    • Connecting to Amazon Aurora Database
    • Connecting to Amazon RDS Databases
    • Connecting to Amazon Redshift Database
    • Connecting to Cloud Storage
    • Connecting to Google Cloud SQL in Astera
    • Connecting to MariaDB Database
    • Connecting to Microsoft Azure Databases
    • Connecting to MySQL Database
    • Connecting to Netezza Database
    • Connecting to Oracle Database
    • Connecting to PostgreSQL in Astera
    • Connecting to Salesforce Database
    • Connecting to Salesforce - Legacy Database
    • Connecting to SAP HANA Database
    • Connecting to Snowflake Database
    • Connecting to Vertica Database
    • Setting Up IBM DB2 iSeries Connectivity in Astera
  • Miscellaneous
    • Cloud Deployment
      • Deploying Astera on Amazon Web Services
      • Deploying Astera on Microsoft Azure Cloud
      • Deploying Astera on Oracle Cloud
    • Context Information
    • Pushdown Mode
    • Role Based Access Control in Astera
    • Safe Mode
    • Server Command Line Utility
    • SmartMatch Feature
    • Synonym Dictionary File
    • Updating Your License in Astera
    • Using Dynamic Layout/Template Mapping in Astera
    • Using Output Variables in Astera
    • Using the Data Source Browser in Astera
  • Best Practices
    • Astera Best Practices - Dataflows
    • Overview of Cardinality in Data Modeling
    • Cardinality Errors FAQs
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On this page
  • Sample Use Case
  • Creating a Report Model
  1. Report Model
  2. Use Cases

Pattern is a Regular Expression

PreviousPattern CountNextExporting Options

Last updated 9 months ago

As the name suggests, the Pattern is a Regular Expression feature in Astera reads the specified pattern as a regular expression. A regular expression is a special text string used to define a search pattern.

You can think of regular expressions as wildcards. For example, wildcard notations such as *.txt are used to find all text files in a file manager.

In this article, we will explore a scenario where the Pattern is a Regular Expression feature that helps us in selecting a data region.

Sample Use Case

In this case, we have some unstructured data stored in a .txt file.

Download the sample text file here.

This file contains contact details of the business dealers of the company.

Here, we want to capture the information including the name, company, and state of these dealers along with their phone and fax numbers. Notice that the information in the phone and fax fields is written in a different format than the rest of the data on this file. In order to capture this information, we will use the Pattern is a Regular Expression feature.

Creating a Report Model

  1. Load the unstructured source file in Astera's designer window.

  1. Right-click on the Record node in the Model layout panel and select Add Data Region from the context menu.

A pattern-matching box, a properties panel, and a data node are added on the Report Model screen.

  1. Check the Pattern is a Regular Expression option present in the Pattern Properties panel. This is done so that Astera can capture phone and fax numbers that have been formatted differently, through a regular expression.

  1. Specify the pattern in the form of a regular expression to capture the required data region.

In this case, the first symbol is "\" (a backslash) which means starts with, which indicates that the required data starts with the character/symbol used in the following pattern.

You can see that the entire data has been highlighted.

Next, put "(" in the pattern box after a backslash, which indicates that the required data starts with an open bracket.

Notice that only the data lines with phone numbers starting with an open bracket have been highlighted. Since some phone numbers do not have an open bracket as the first character, put "?" in the pattern box after "(", which will indicate that the data may or may not start with an open bracket.

Notice that all the numbers are using the "x" character. So, write "x" in the pattern box, after the question mark. You can see that all the data lines with phone and fax numbers have been selected now.

To be more precise, you can put a plus sign after "x", indicating that the character "x" can appear more than once.

The pattern in the form of a regular expression has been specified.

  1. To capture the rest of the data, increase the Line Count to 3 and the Apply Pattern to Line to 1.

The required data region has been selected. Now, let’s create data fields.

  1. Highlight the information inside the data region, right-click on it, and select Add Data Field from the context menu. In this case, let’s rename it to Name.

Repeat the same process to create more data fields and name them as shown below. You can see the layout of the extraction template in the Model Layout panel.

  1. Preview the data by clicking on the Preview Data icon placed in the toolbar at the top of the designer window.

A Data Preview window will open displaying a preview of the extracted data.

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6-Regular-Expression.zip
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