# Pattern Matching

**URL:** <https://community.abs-consulting.com/t/pattern-matching/49>\
**Category:** ClearTrigger\
**Created:** [November 9, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://community.abs-consulting.com/t/pattern-matching/49 "2021-11-09T15:29:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robert](https://community.abs-consulting.com/user_avatar/community.abs-consulting.com/robert/32/28_2.png) [@robert](https://community.abs-consulting.com/u/robert)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://community.abs-consulting.com/t/pattern-matching/49/1 "2021-11-09T15:29:03Z")

</div>

# Pattern Matching

Many portions of the license file can contain _patterns_ . These patterns are useful when you want to match several, a few or a single item. An item might consist of a **(user)** , **\<group\>** , **{element}** , **[VOB]** , **[VOB:replica]** , **%view%** or **@time@** as found in:

- [MOTD Restriction List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/MOTD_restriction.html)
- [Region Inhibited List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/region_inhibited_users.html)
- [Region Special Access List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/region_special_users.html)
- [Command Key Allow List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/allow_list.html)
- [Command Key Disallow List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/disallow_list.html)
- [Command Key Trigger Not User List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/not_user_list.html)
- [Command Key Trigger Only User List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/only_user_list.html)

or they may be a **type item** as found in **RIN List** :

- [Restriction List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/restriction_list.html)
- [Inclusion List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/inclusion_list.html)
- [Negation List](https://www.abs-consulting.com/products_cd/cleartrigger_distribution/dilbert/cleartrigger/help/negation_list.html)

There are three (3) pattern recognized pattern characters that can be used as described below:

| Pattern Character | Description |
| --- | --- |
| \* | matches any string |
| ? | matches any single character |
| # | matches any single digit |

These **pattern characters** can be used to match characters within an item’s pattern area. The pattern area consist of the characters between an item’s initial and terminating characters as descried below:

| Item | Examples |
| --- | --- |
| (User) | (bob) (intern\__) (sec\_#\__) (temp\_??\_service) |
| \<Group\> | \<dev\_#\> \<pra##\> \<dev?\_service\> |
| {Element} | {/vobs/pra/bar.c} {_/src/_} {\*.c} {#.???} |
| [VOB] | [\vob\_a] [/vob/pra\*] [_tut_] [\*] [/vob\_?] |
| [VOB:replica] | [\vob\_a:atl] [/vob/pra\*:sfo] [_:usa] [/vobs/cm:_] [/vob/\*:cm\_?] |
| %view% | %import\_view% %build\_view\ __% %__ QA__% %_% %release\_?% |
| @time@ | @D2@ @h3@ @D20050212@ @D2004###5@ |

**NOTES:**

- Adjacent ‘_’ characters are treated as a single '_’ character
- A ‘#’ or ‘?’ that _ **directly** _ follows a ‘\*’ characters is ignored