URL Pattern Matching

WebScout lets you use powerful regular expressions to match any URL. The following are examples of patterns that match different URLs. If you need help matching a URL, contact us and we will gladly help.

Matching a web site

Problem: Match the web site www.something.com.
Solution: www\.something\.com

Matching a directory

Problem: Match the "images" folder on any web site.
Solution: /images/

Matching a filename

Problem: Match the file "sample.jpg".
Solution: sample\.jpg

Matching a file extension

Problem: Match any MP3 file (*.mp3).
Solution: \.mp3

Matching a whole keyword

Problem: Match the whole keyword "sample", but not "samples".
Solution: \Wsample\W

Matching a web site prefix

Problem: Match any web site that starts with "ads.". For example, ads.something.com.
Solution: http://ads\.

Note: The period character has a special meaning in regular expressions; it means "any character" which is similar to the question mark in DOS. To match the literal period character, you must preceed the period with a backslash. That is why in the above examples you see the backslash followed by the period.