REGEXP_COUNT

Purpose

This function searches for occurrences of a regular expression pattern in a string and returns the number of times the pattern is found. If the pattern is not present, the value 0 (zero) is returned. Otherwise, the function returns the total count of pattern matches within the string.

Usage notes

• For more details and examples on regular expression, see Regular expressions.

• The optional parameter start_position defines from which position the search should begin (default value is 1).

• REGEXP_COUNT(string, pattern) is similar to REGEXP_COUNT(string, pattern, 1).

• See also functions REGEXP_INSTR, REGEXP_REPLACE, REGEXP_SUBSTR, and the predicate [NOT] REGEXP_LIKE.

Example

SELECT REGEXP_COUNT('Fair fox Flew Far', 
  '(?i)fA'
  ) REGEXP_COUNT1,
  REGEXP_COUNT('eeeee! said the dentist',
  'e',
  3
  ) REGEXP_COUNT2;

Result: