Regex Search

Enable regular expression (regex) search for advanced pattern matching beyond simple wildcards.

[!NOTE] Regex search is supported on Laravel DB drivers: MySQL, SQLite, and Oracle.

Frontend Configuration

Enable regex in your DataTables JavaScript initialization:

$('#users-table').DataTable({
    processing: true,
    serverSide: true,
    ajax: '/user-data',
    columns: [
        { data: 'id', name: 'id' },
        { data: 'name', name: 'name' },
        { data: 'email', name: 'email' },
        { data: 'created_at', name: 'created_at' }
    ],
    search: {
        regex: true
    }
});

Case Sensitivity

By default, regex patterns are case-sensitive. Enable case-insensitive matching:

search: {
    regex: true,
    caseInsensitive: true
}

Backend Configuration

No special backend configuration is required. The package automatically handles regex patterns:

// Works automatically - no changes needed
Route::get('user-data', fn () => DataTables::eloquent(User::query())->toJson());

Common Patterns

Email Addresses

Match emails from a specific domain:

.*@example\.com$

Example search: .*@example\.com$ → matches "[email protected]", "[email protected]"

Numbers in Range (1-80)

Match numbers from 1 to 80:

^([1-9]|[1-7][0-9]|80)$

Starts With

Match values beginning with specific text:

^John

Example search: ^John → matches "John", "Johnny", "John Doe"

Ends With

Match values ending with specific text:

\.pdf$

Example search: \.pdf$ → matches "document.pdf", "file.pdf"

Quick Reference

[!NOTE] Supported drivers: MySQL, SQLite, Oracle. Not available for PostgreSQL.

See Also

• Smart Search - Wildcard search
• Manual Search - Custom filtering logic
• Filter Column - Custom column filtering