<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: Regular Expressions

For some sensors, you can use regular expressions to match a search pattern. PRTG supports Perl Compatible Regular Expression (PCRE).

The following sensors support using regular expressions:

icon-i-round-redYou can only use regular expressions for the respective sensors if you explicitly enable using regular expressions in the sensors' settings.

icon-i-round-redPRTG does not support regular expression (regex) options or regex flags like, for example, /g (global), /s (single line), or /gs, and does not correctly search for the target string if you try to set options.

See below for examples with the most common patterns and an example for possible matches.

Common Search Patterns

Find matches containing the word error or alarm:

\b(error|alarm)\b

Find matches containing the words error and alarm, in any order:

(?=.*\berror\b)(?=.*\balarm\b).*

Find matches containing all of the words tree, flower, leaf, and bug, in any order:

(?=.*\btree\b)(?=.*\bflower\b)(?=.*\bleaf\b)(?=.*\bbug\b).*

 
icon-i-round-redIt is not possible to match an empty string using the PRTG regex search with sensors.

Example

The search pattern

(?=.*\berror\b)(?=.*\balarm\b).*

matches the following expressions:

  • Alarm error
  • Error alarm
  • I am an error and I trigger an alarm.
  • I am an alarm and I indicate an error.
  • An alarm combined with an error indeed!
  • An error combined with an alarm, too!

More

icon-square-blueMISCELLANEOUS

Regex101: Test and debug your regular expressions

Regex Tester: Test Regular expressions interactively

Wikipedia: Regular expression

 

Advanced Topics