fn:matches

Returns true if the given string matches the given regular expression.

matches($input as xs:string?, $pattern as xs:string) ➔ xs:boolean

Arguments
	$input	xs:string?	The string to be matched against a regular expression
	$pattern	xs:string	The regular expression
Result		xs:boolean

matches($input as xs:string?, $pattern as xs:string, $flags as xs:string) ➔ xs:boolean

Arguments
	$input	xs:string?	The string to be matched against a regular expression
	$pattern	xs:string	The regular expression
	$flags	xs:string	Flags that control the interpretation of the regular expression
Result		xs:boolean

Namespace

http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions

Links to W3C specifications

XPath 3.1 Functions and Operators

Saxon availability

Available in XPath 2.0, XSLT 2.0, XQuery 1.0, and later versions. Available in all Saxon editions.

Notes on the Saxon implementation

Saxon 9.3 introduced support for the q flag, and for XPath 3.0 regular expression enhancements, provided XPath 3.0 is enabled.

Saxon implements some extensions to the flags argument. The value of this argument contains the standard flags defined in the spec (i, m, s, x, q) followed optionally by a semicolon and then Saxon-specific flags. The Saxon-specific flags are:

j - Use the standard Java regular expression engine, allowing native Java regex syntax. This allows, for example, the use of "\b" in a regular expression to match word boundaries.

If used with SaxonCS, the j flag is treated as if n were specified.
n - Use the standard .NET regular expression engine, allowing native .NET regex syntax. This is supported in SaxonCS only.
g - Switch on diagnostics. Not currently used.
k - Treat unknown Unicode block names as matching any character (this is the default for XSD 1.1). This option applies to the Saxon regular expression engine only.
K - Treat unknown Unicode block names as an error (this is the default for XSD 1.0 and for XPath/XSLT/XQuery). This option applies to the Saxon regular expression engine only.

In the case of fn:replace(), if the platform-native regex engine is used (Java or .NET) then the syntax for the replacement expression in the third argument also follows the rules for the platform. For example, the syntax ${name} can be used in a reference to a named captured group.