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Regex Constants

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Posted on by JC-08081742-0

I'm working on a project that makes use of `IsMatch()` and it's related functions to validate and extract strings from user inputs; I've got to use the same RegEx in different formulas across the app. I would prefer to define one constant and use that in multiple places, so when I discover the RegEx needs to change, I just change the one constant instead of hunt down each formula I used it in edit them piecemeal (it's time-consuming and finnicky). However, I can't assign a value to `regex_pattern` via App.OnStart or All.Formulas because those are "variables" according to Power Apps, even if nothing in the app actually tries to change the value of `regex_pattern`!

How do I define a constant in Power Apps? How do I straight-up tell Power Apps "this means that?" I just want to set a value for `regex_pattern` on the editing-side, without any need to ever change its value while the app is running.

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Pstork1 68,697 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Power Apps only has variables, not constants. But what you could do that would make editing a little easier would be to use the search and replace function in the editor. That way you can search for all instances of the REGEX pattern and replace them at one time. Here's a screenshot of a quick example.

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ronaldwalcott 3,847 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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I have not tested this but since isMatch just returns a boolean can't you use named formulas and global variables to perform this functionality

e,g.

IsMatch( "986", "\d+" ) Matches an integer greater than zero.

I can create a global variable in OnStart

Set (integerCheck, "")

and create a formula

checkPositiveInteger=IsMatch(integerCheck,"\d+")

when I want to check a value in my code I would then Set(integerCheck, myValue) and use checkPositiveInteger in my If statement

All of your regex checks will then be expressed in one place as named formulas.

I have no idea if this would work just a supposition.

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