TIP: If your data is not TAB delimited, use Text Manipulation->Convert

Syntax

The select tool searches the data for lines containing or not containing a match to the given pattern. Regular Expression is introduced in this tool. A Regular Expression is a pattern describing a certain amount of text.

• ( ) { } [ ] . * ? + ^ $ are all special characters. \ can be used to "escape" a special character, allowing that special character to be searched for.
• \A matches the beginning of a string(but not an internal line).
• \d matches a digit, same as [0-9].
• \D matches a non-digit.
• \s matches a whitespace character.
• \S matches anything BUT a whitespace.
• \t matches a tab.
• \w matches an alphanumeric character.
• \W matches anything but an alphanumeric character.
• ( .. ) groups a particular pattern.
• \Z matches the end of a string(but not a internal line).
• { n or n, or n,m } specifies an expected number of repetitions of the preceding pattern.
  • {n} The preceding item is matched exactly n times.
  • {n,} The preceding item is matched n or more times.
  • {n,m} The preceding item is matched at least n times but not more than m times.
• [ ... ] creates a character class. Within the brackets, single characters can be placed. A dash (-) may be used to indicate a range such as a-z.
• . Matches any single character except a newline.
• * The preceding item will be matched zero or more times.
• ? The preceding item is optional and matched at most once.
• + The preceding item will be matched one or more times.
• ^ has two meaning: - matches the beginning of a line or string. - indicates negation in a character class. For example, [^...] matches every character except the ones inside brackets.
• $ matches the end of a line or string.
• | Separates alternate possibilities.

Example

• ^chr([0-9A-Za-z])+ would match lines that begin with chromosomes, such as lines in a BED format file.
• (ACGT){1,5} would match at least 1 "ACGT" and at most 5 "ACGT" consecutively.
• ([^,][0-9]{1,3})(,[0-9]{3})* would match a large integer that is properly separated with commas such as 23,078,651.
• (abc)|(def) would match either "abc" or "def".
• ^\W+# would match any line that is a comment.