elasticsearch/docs/reference/esql/functions/rlike.asciidoc

[discete]
[[esql-rlike-operator]]
==== `RLIKE`

// tag::body[]
Use `RLIKE` to filter data based on string patterns using using
<<regexp-syntax,regular expressions>>. `RLIKE` usually acts on a field placed on
the left-hand side of the operator, but it can also act on a constant (literal)
expression. The right-hand side of the operator represents the pattern.

include::./types/like.asciidoc[]

[source.merge.styled,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=rlike]
----
[%header.monospaced.styled,format=dsv,separator=|]
|===
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=rlike-result]
|===

Matching special characters (eg. `.`, `*`, `(`...) will require escaping.
The escape character is backslash `\`. Since also backslash is a special character in string literals,
it will require further escaping.

[source.merge.styled,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/string.csv-spec[tag=rlikeEscapingSingleQuotes]
----

To reduce the overhead of escaping, we suggest using triple quotes strings `"""`

[source.merge.styled,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/string.csv-spec[tag=rlikeEscapingTripleQuotes]
----
// end::body[]