How to use Regular Expressions Regex in Microsoft Excel both in-cell and loops

Question

How can I use regular expressions in Excel and take advantage of Excel s powerful grid-like setup for data manipulation    In-cell function to return a matched pattern or replaced value in a string  Sub to loop through a column of data and extract matches to adjacent cells  What setup is necessary  What are Excel s special characters for Regular expressions      I understand Regex is not ideal for many situations  To use or not to use regular expressions   since excel can use Left  Mid  Right  Instr type commands for similar manipulations

User · Answer

I needed to use this as a cell function (like SUM or VLOOKUP) and found that it was easy to:

Make sure you are in a Macro Enabled Excel File (save as xlsm).
Open developer tools Alt + F11
Add Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5 as in other answers

Create the following function either in workbook or in its own module:

Function REGPLACE(myRange As Range, matchPattern As String, outputPattern As String) As Variant
    Dim regex As New VBScript_RegExp_55.RegExp
    Dim strInput As String

    strInput = myRange.Value

    With regex
        .Global = True
        .MultiLine = True
        .IgnoreCase = False
        .Pattern = matchPattern
    End With

    REGPLACE = regex.Replace(strInput, outputPattern)

End Function

Then you can use in cell with =REGPLACE(B1, "(\w) (\d+)", "$1$2") (ex: "A 243" to "A243")

User · Answer

Expanding on patszim s answer for those in a rush    Open Excel workbook  Alt F11 to open VBA Macros window  Add reference to regex under Tools then References  and selecting Microsoft VBScript Regular Expression 5 5  Insert a new module  code needs to reside in the module otherwise it doesn t work    In the newly inserted module   add the following code     Function RegxFunc strInput As String  regexPattern As String  As String     Dim regEx As New RegExp     With regEx          Global   True          MultiLine   True          IgnoreCase   False          pattern   regexPattern     End With      If regEx Test strInput  Then         Set matches   regEx Execute strInput          RegxFunc   matches 0  Value     Else         RegxFunc    not matched      End If End Function  The regex pattern is placed in one of the cells and absolute referencing is used on it   Function will be tied to workbook that its created in  If there s a need for it to be used in different workbooks  store the function in Personal XLSB

User · Answer

Here is a  regex subst   function  Examples    regex subst  watermellon     aeiou        --- gt  wtrmlln  regex subst  watermellon      aeiou        --- gt  aeeo   Here is the simplified code  simpler for me  anyway    I couldn t figure out how to build a suitable output pattern using the above to work like my examples   Function regex subst         strInput As String        matchPattern As String        Optional ByVal replacePattern As String          As Variant     Dim inputRegexObj As New VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp      With inputRegexObj          Global   True          MultiLine   True          IgnoreCase   False          Pattern   matchPattern     End With      regex subst   inputRegexObj Replace strInput  replacePattern  End Function

User · Answer

This isn t a direct answer but may provide a more efficient alternative for your consideration  Which is that Google Sheets has several built in Regex Functions these can be very convenient and help circumvent some of the technical procedures in Excel  Obviously there are some advantages to using Excel on your PC but for the large majority of users Google Sheets will offer an identical experience and may offer some benefits in portability and sharing of documents     They offer  REGEXEXTRACT  Extracts matching substrings according to a regular expression   REGEXREPLACE  Replaces part of a text string with a different text string using regular expressions   SUBSTITUTE  Replaces existing text with new text in a string   REPLACE  Replaces part of a text string with a different text string   You can type these directly into a cell like so and will produce whatever you d like   REGEXMATCH A2    0-9       They also work quite well in combinations with other functions such as IF statements like so    IF REGEXMATCH E8  MiB   REGEXEXTRACT E8   d    d   d    1000 IF REGEXMATCH E8  GiB   REGEXEXTRACT E8   d    d   d            Hopefully this provides a simple workaround for users who feel taunted by the VBS component of Excel

User · Answer

To add to the valuable content  I would like to create this reminder on why sometimes RegEx within VBA is not ideal  Not all expressions are supported  but instead may throw an Error 5017 and may leave the author guessing  which I am a victim of myself    Whilst we can find some sources on what is supported  it would be helpfull to know which metacharacters etc  are not supported  A more in-depth explaination can be found here  Mentioned in this source       Although  VBScript   s regular expression     version 5 5 implements quite a few essential regex features that were missing in previous versions of VBScript      JavaScript and VBScript implement Perl-style regular expressions  However  they lack quite a number of advanced features available in Perl and other modern regular expression flavors       So  not supported are    Start of String ancor  A  alternatively use the   caret to match postion before 1st char in string End of String ancor  Z  alternatively use the   dollar sign to match postion after last char in string Positive LookBehind  e g      lt  a b  whilst postive LookAhead is supported  Negative LookBehind  e g      lt  a b  whilst negative LookAhead is supported  Atomic Grouping Possessive Quantifiers Unicode e g     uFFFF  Named Capturing Groups  Alternatively use Numbered Capturing Groups Inline modifiers  e g    i  case sensitivity  or  g  global  etc  Set these through the RegExp object properties   RegExp Global   True and RegExp IgnoreCase   True if available  Conditionals Regular Expression Comments  Add these with regular   comments in script      I already hit a wall more than once using regular expressions within VBA  Usually with LookBehind but sometimes I even forget the modifiers  I have not experienced all these above mentioned backdrops myself but thought I would try to be extensive referring to some more in-depth information  Feel free to comment correct add  Big shout out to regular-expressions info for a wealth of information   P S  You have mentioned regular VBA methods and functions  and I can confirm they  at least to myself  have been helpful in their own ways where RegEx would fail

User · Answer

I don t want to have to enable a reference library as I need my scripts to be portable  The Dim foo As New VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp line caused User Defined Type Not Defined errors  but I found a solution that worked for me  Update RE comments w   chrisneilsen   I was under the impression that enabling a reference library was tied to the local computers settings  but it is in fact  tied directly to the workbook  So  you can enable a reference library  share a macro enabled workbook and the end user wouldn t have to enable the library as well  Caveat  The advantage to Late Binding is that the developer does not have to worry about the wrong version of an object library being installed on the user s computer  This likely would not be an issue w  the VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp library  but I m not sold that the  quot performance quot  benifit is worth it for me at this time  as we are talking imperceptible milliseconds in my code  I felt this deserved an update to help others understand  If you enable the reference library  you can use  quot early bind quot   but if you don t  as far as I can tell  the code will work fine  but you need to  quot late bind quot  and loose on some performance debugging features  Source  https   peltiertech com Excel EarlyLateBinding html What you ll want to do is put an example string in cell A1  then test your strPattern  Once that s working adjust then rng as desired  Public Sub RegExSearch    https   stackoverflow com questions 22542834 how-to-use-regular-expressions-regex-in-microsoft-excel-both-in-cell-and-loops  https   wellsr com vba 2018 excel vba-regex-regular-expressions-guide   https   www vitoshacademy com vba-regex-in-excel      Dim regexp As Object      Dim regex As New VBScript RegExp 55 regexp  Caused  quot User Defined Type Not Defined quot  Error     Dim rng As Range  rcell As Range     Dim strInput As String  strPattern As String          Set regexp   CreateObject  quot vbscript regexp quot       Set rng   ActiveSheet Range  quot A1 A1 quot                strPattern    quot   a-z  2    0-9  8   quot       Search for 2 Letters then 8 Digits Eg  XY12345678   Matched      With regexp          Global   False          MultiLine   False          ignoreCase   True          Pattern   strPattern     End With      For Each rcell In rng Cells          If strPattern  lt  gt   quot  quot  Then             strInput   rcell Value              If regexp test strInput  Then                 MsgBox rcell  amp   quot  Matched in Cell  quot   amp  rcell Address             Else                 MsgBox  quot No Matches  quot              End If         End If     Next End Sub

User · Answer

Regular expressions are used for Pattern Matching  To use in Excel follow these steps  Step 1  Add VBA reference to  quot Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5 5 quot   Select  quot Developer quot  tab  I don t have this tab what do I do   Select  quot Visual Basic quot  icon from  Code  ribbon section In  quot Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications quot  window select  quot Tools quot  from the top menu  Select  quot References quot  Check the box next to  quot Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5 5 quot  to include in your workbook  Click  quot OK quot   Step 2  Define your pattern Basic definitions  -  Range   E g  a-z matches an lower case letters from a to z E g  0-5 matches any number from 0 to 5     Match exactly one of the objects inside these brackets   E g   a  matches the letter a E g   abc  matches a single letter which can be a  b or c E g   a-z  matches any single lower case letter of the alphabet      Groups different matches for return purposes   See examples below     Multiplier for repeated copies of pattern defined before it   E g   a  2  matches two consecutive lower case letter a  aa E g   a  1 3  matches at least one and up to three lower case letter a  aa  aaa     Match at least one  or more  of the pattern defined before it   E g  a  will match consecutive a s a  aa  aaa  and so on     Match zero or one of the pattern defined before it   E g  Pattern may or may not be present but can only be matched one time  E g   a-z   matches empty string or any single lower case letter      Match zero or more of the pattern defined before it   E g  Wildcard for pattern that may or may not be present  E g   a-z   matches empty string or string of lower case letters      Matches any character except newline  n  E g  a  Matches a two character string starting with a and ending with anything except  n     OR operator  E g  a b means either a or b can be matched  E g  red white orange matches exactly one of the colors      NOT operator  E g    0-9  character can not contain a number E g    aA  character can not be lower case a or upper case A     Escapes special character that follows  overrides above behavior   E g                           Anchoring Patterns     Match must occur at start of string  E g   a First character must be lower case letter a E g    0-9  First character must be a number      Match must occur at end of string  E g  a  Last character must be lower case letter a   Precedence table  Order  Name                Representation 1      Parentheses             2      Multipliers                m n   m  n   3      Sequence  amp  Anchors  abc     4      Alternation             Predefined Character Abbreviations  abr    same as       meaning  d      0-9          Any single digit  D       0-9         Any single character that s not a digit  w      a-zA-Z0-9    Any word character  W       a-zA-Z0-9   Any non-word character  s        r t n f    Any space character  S         r t n f   Any non-space character  n       n           New line   Example 1  Run as macro The following example macro looks at the value in cell A1 to see if the first 1 or 2 characters are digits   If so  they are removed and the rest of the string is displayed   If not  then a box appears telling you that no match is found   Cell A1 values of 12abc will return abc  value of 1abc will return abc  value of abc123 will return  quot Not Matched quot  because the digits were not at the start of the string  Private Sub simpleRegex       Dim strPattern As String  strPattern    quot   0-9  1 2  quot      Dim strReplace As String  strReplace    quot  quot      Dim regEx As New RegExp     Dim strInput As String     Dim Myrange As Range          Set Myrange   ActiveSheet Range  quot A1 quot            If strPattern  lt  gt   quot  quot  Then         strInput   Myrange Value                  With regEx              Global   True              MultiLine   True              IgnoreCase   False              Pattern   strPattern         End With                  If regEx Test strInput  Then             MsgBox  regEx Replace strInput  strReplace           Else             MsgBox   quot Not matched quot           End If     End If End Sub   Example 2  Run as an in-cell function This example is the same as example 1 but is setup to run as an in-cell function  To use  change the code to this  Function simpleCellRegex Myrange As Range  As String     Dim regEx As New RegExp     Dim strPattern As String     Dim strInput As String     Dim strReplace As String     Dim strOutput As String               strPattern    quot   0-9  1 3  quot           If strPattern  lt  gt   quot  quot  Then         strInput   Myrange Value         strReplace    quot  quot                   With regEx              Global   True              MultiLine   True              IgnoreCase   False              Pattern   strPattern         End With                  If regEx test strInput  Then             simpleCellRegex   regEx Replace strInput  strReplace          Else             simpleCellRegex    quot Not matched quot          End If     End If End Function  Place your strings   quot 12abc quot   in cell A1   Enter this formula  simpleCellRegex A1  in cell B1 and the result will be  quot abc quot     Example 3  Loop Through Range This example is the same as example 1 but loops through a range of cells  Private Sub simpleRegex       Dim strPattern As String  strPattern    quot   0-9  1 2  quot      Dim strReplace As String  strReplace    quot  quot      Dim regEx As New RegExp     Dim strInput As String     Dim Myrange As Range          Set Myrange   ActiveSheet Range  quot A1 A5 quot            For Each cell In Myrange         If strPattern  lt  gt   quot  quot  Then             strInput   cell Value                          With regEx                  Global   True                  MultiLine   True                  IgnoreCase   False                  Pattern   strPattern             End With                          If regEx Test strInput  Then                 MsgBox  regEx Replace strInput  strReplace               Else                 MsgBox   quot Not matched quot               End If         End If     Next End Sub   Example 4  Splitting apart different patterns This example loops through a range  A1  A2  amp  A3  and looks for a string starting with three digits followed by a single alpha character and then 4 numeric digits   The output splits apart the pattern matches into adjacent cells by using the       1 represents the first pattern matched within the first set of     Private Sub splitUpRegexPattern       Dim regEx As New RegExp     Dim strPattern As String     Dim strInput As String     Dim Myrange As Range          Set Myrange   ActiveSheet Range  quot A1 A3 quot            For Each C In Myrange         strPattern    quot    0-9  3    a-zA-Z    0-9  4   quot                   If strPattern  lt  gt   quot  quot  Then             strInput   C Value                          With regEx                  Global   True                  MultiLine   True                  IgnoreCase   False                  Pattern   strPattern             End With                          If regEx test strInput  Then                 C Offset 0  1    regEx Replace strInput   quot  1 quot                   C Offset 0  2    regEx Replace strInput   quot  2 quot                   C Offset 0  3    regEx Replace strInput   quot  3 quot               Else                 C Offset 0  1     quot  Not matched  quot              End If         End If     Next End Sub  Results    Additional Pattern Examples String   Regex Pattern                  Explanation a1aaa     a-zA-Z  0-9  a-zA-Z  3        Single alpha  single digit  three alpha characters a1aaa     a-zA-Z   0-9  a-zA-Z  3       May or may not have preceding alpha character a1aaa     a-zA-Z  0-9  a-zA-Z  0 3      Single alpha  single digit  0 to 3 alpha characters a1aaa     a-zA-Z  0-9  a-zA-Z           Single alpha  single digit  followed by any number of alpha characters   lt  i8 gt       lt    a-zA-Z  0-9   gt             Exact non-word character except any single alpha followed by any single digit

User · Answer

To make use of regular expressions directly in Excel formulas the following UDF  user defined function  can be of help  It more or less directly exposes regular expression functionality as an excel function   How it works  It takes 2-3 parameters    A text to use the regular expression on  A regular expression  A format string specifying how the result should look  It can contain  0   1   2  and so on   0 is the entire match   1 and up correspond to the respective match groups in the regular expression  Defaults to  0    Some examples  Extracting an email address    regex  Peter Gordon  some email com  47     w   w    w     regex  Peter Gordon  some email com  47     w   w    w      0     Results in  some email com  Extracting several substrings    regex  Peter Gordon  some email com  47                   d       E-Mail   2  Name   1     Results in  E-Mail  some email com  Name  Peter Gordon  To take apart a combined string in a single cell into its components in multiple cells    regex  Peter Gordon  some email com  47                   d           amp  1   regex  Peter Gordon  some email com  47                   d           amp  2    Results in  Peter Gordon some email com      How to use  To use this UDF do the following  roughly based on this Microsoft page  They have some good additional info there      In Excel in a Macro enabled file    xlsm   push ALT F11 to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Editor  Add VBA reference to the Regular Expressions library  shamelessly copied from Portland Runners   answer     Click on Tools -  References  please excuse the german screenshot   Find Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5 5 in the list and tick the checkbox next to it  Click OK   Click on Insert Module  If you give your module a different name make sure the Module does not have the same name as the UDF below  e g  naming the Module Regex and the function regex causes  NAME  errors     In the big text window in the middle insert the following   Function regex strInput As String  matchPattern As String  Optional ByVal outputPattern As String     0   As Variant     Dim inputRegexObj As New VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp  outputRegexObj As New VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp  outReplaceRegexObj As New VBScript RegExp 55 RegExp     Dim inputMatches As Object  replaceMatches As Object  replaceMatch As Object     Dim replaceNumber As Integer      With inputRegexObj          Global   True          MultiLine   True          IgnoreCase   False          Pattern   matchPattern     End With     With outputRegexObj          Global   True          MultiLine   True          IgnoreCase   False          Pattern        d        End With     With outReplaceRegexObj          Global   True          MultiLine   True          IgnoreCase   False     End With      Set inputMatches   inputRegexObj Execute strInput      If inputMatches Count   0 Then         regex   False     Else         Set replaceMatches   outputRegexObj Execute outputPattern          For Each replaceMatch In replaceMatches             replaceNumber   replaceMatch SubMatches 0              outReplaceRegexObj Pattern         amp  replaceNumber              If replaceNumber   0 Then                 outputPattern   outReplaceRegexObj Replace outputPattern  inputMatches 0  Value              Else                 If replaceNumber  gt  inputMatches 0  SubMatches Count Then                      regex    A to high   tag found  Largest allowed is     amp  inputMatches 0  SubMatches Count  amp                          regex   CVErr xlErrValue                      Exit Function                 Else                     outputPattern   outReplaceRegexObj Replace outputPattern  inputMatches 0  SubMatches replaceNumber - 1                   End If             End If         Next         regex   outputPattern     End If End Function  Save and close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications Editor window

User · Answer

Here is my attempt   Function RegParse ByVal pattern As String  ByVal html As String      Dim regex   As RegExp     Set regex   New RegExp      With regex          IgnoreCase   True   ignoring cases while regex engine performs the search           pattern   pattern   declaring regex pattern           Global   False      restricting regex to find only first match           If  Test html  Then          Testing if the pattern matches or not             mStr    Execute html  0           Execute html  0  will provide the String which matches with Regex             RegParse    Replace mStr    1     Replace function will replace the String with whatever is in the first set of braces -  1          Else             RegParse     N A          End If      End With End Function

[regex] How to use Regular Expressions (Regex) in Microsoft Excel both in-cell and loops

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