regexp_instr function

Applies to: Databricks SQL Databricks Runtime 11.3 LTS and above

Returns the position of the first substring in str that matches regexp.

Syntax

regexp_instr( str, regexp )

Arguments

• str: A STRING expression to be matched.
• regexp: A STRING expression with a pattern.

Returns

A STRING.

The regexp string must be a Java regular expression. String literals are unescaped. For example, to match '\abc', a regular expression for regexp can be '^\\abc$'. In case of a malformed regexp the function returns an INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE error. If either argument is NULL or the pattern is not found, the result is NULL.

Examples

> SELECT regexp_instr('Steven Jones and Stephen Smith are the best players', 'Ste(v|ph)en');
 1

> SELECT regexp_instr('Mary had a little lamb', 'Ste(v|ph)en');
 0

> SELECT regexp_instr(NULL, 'Ste(v|ph)en');
 NULL

> SELECT regexp_instr('Mary had a little lamb', NULL);
 NULL

Related functions

• ilike operator
• like operator
• regexp operator
• regexp_count function
• regexp_extract_all function
• regexp_replace function
• regexp_substr function
• rlike operator
• split function