{"id":211,"date":"2012-06-28T13:23:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T13:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samskritisolutions.com\/blog\/?p=211"},"modified":"2021-11-09T10:41:08","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T10:41:08","slug":"how-to-use-regular-expressions-in-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samskritisolutions.com\/blog\/how-to-use-regular-expressions-in-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Regular Expressions in Google Analytics (In Step-By-Step)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most widely applied tool for measuring and evaluating a website is Google Analytics. Google Analytics<\/strong> has out-of-the box functionality that helps to know the performance of the website in search visibility. Regular Expressions<\/a> are the most happening source in Google Analytics. A set of characters that specify a pattern is referred as regular expression. It usually is derived from the expression of the term that uses grammars and formal languages.<\/p>\n

Google Analytics<\/strong> gives support through regular expressions for creating more influential implementations for user. Regular Expressions are the special characters that relatively match or confine portions of a field, as well as the rules that direct all characters. Regular Expressions<\/strong> are used to create filters, create one goal and fine-tune expressions for matching data and execute an action when the right match is achieved.<\/p>\n

Regular expressions<\/a> are also called as regex<\/strong> used in Google Analytics to find URLs (or almost anything else) that shapes a definite description.<\/p>\n

Common Regular Expression Metacharacters:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Metacharacter<\/strong><\/td>\nDescription<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
.<\/td>\nMatches any single character.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
[   ]<\/td>\nMatches a single character that is contained within the square brackets. Referred to as a class<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
[^   ]<\/td>\nMatches a single character that is not<\/em> contained within the square brackets. Referred to as a class<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
^<\/td>\nMatches the beginning of the string. This is referred to as an anchor<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
$<\/td>\nMatches the end of the string. This is referred to as an anchor<\/em>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
*<\/td>\nMatches zero or more of the previous item.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
?<\/td>\nMatches zero or one of the previous item.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
+<\/td>\nMatches one or more of the previous item.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
|<\/td>\nThe OR operator. Matches either the expression before or the expression after the operator.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\\<\/td>\nThe escape character. Allows you to use one of the metacharacters for your match.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
(   )<\/td>\nGroups characters into substrings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Best Way to Learn Regex<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here you are going to learn how to customize a report in Google Analytics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For Example:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We will use a Pipe symbol<\/strong> [ “|” ] to generate a Regular Expression (RE) to get a customized report.<\/p>\n

To begin with, sign in to your Google Analytics<\/strong> account, select your website profile and navigate to Standard reporting as shown in the image below:<\/p>\n

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