{"id":115678,"date":"2025-02-28T18:05:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/analytics\/the-regex-table-variable-in-google-tag-manager\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T18:05:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T18:05:32","slug":"the-regex-table-variable-in-google-tag-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=115678","title":{"rendered":"The RegEx Table Variable In Google Tag Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Ever since the Lookup Table variable was introduced<\/a> in Google Tag Manager<\/a>, users have been craving for more. The Lookup Table does exactly what it promises: lookups. These are exact match operations, which are extremely inexpensive to perform, because they can only have a binary result: either the match exists in the data store being queried or it doesn\u2019t. This performance stays constant even if the data store being queried increases in size. However, exact match has one significant problem: it\u2019s exact<\/strong> match. Thus even though the Lookup Table variable is extremely useful, it\u2019s missing the flexibility of, I don\u2019t know, say, regular expressions. You will be pleased to hear, then, that Google Tag Manager has released a new variable type: the RegEx Table<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

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\"RegEx<\/p>\n

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First of all, if you are unfamiliar with regular expressions, here are some great resources:<\/p>\n

Needless to say, RegEx is a powerful pattern-matching syntax to learn, and can help you enormously in keeping your Google Tag Manager container lean and mean.<\/p>\n


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The RegEx Table variable<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ll find the RegEx Table variable in the list of variable types you can create as a User-defined variable<\/strong>. Once you choose this variable type, you\u2019ll see the following configuration:<\/p>\n

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\"RegEx<\/p>\n

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There are many similarities with the Lookup Table variable, for good reason, but there\u2019s also a bunch of settings that turn this new variable into a formidable force in its own right.<\/p>\n

1. Input variable<\/h3>\n

The Input variable<\/strong> shares its functionality with the Lookup Table. The input variable is what you\u2019ll be making your pattern checks against<\/strong>. For example, if you want to use the RegEx table to look for patterns in the current page path, you\u2019d choose the {{Page Path}}<\/strong> variable as the input.<\/p>\n

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\"Input<\/p>\n

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The input variable is evaluated row-by-row, from top-to-bottom, against each pattern. When a pattern matches, the respective output is returned and processing of the table stops.<\/p>\n

2. RegEx Table<\/h3>\n

Next, you have the table itself. In the table, you add rows, where each row represents a pattern<\/strong> you want to match in the input, and an output<\/strong> returned by the variable in case the pattern matches.<\/p>\n

The pattern<\/strong> is always interpreted as a regular expression. All the following patterns are valid examples:<\/p>\n