# Using Regular Expressions

You can use regular expressions when you define AS-path access lists and community lists to more easily filter routes. A regular expression uses special characters—often referred to as metacharacters—to define a pattern that is compared with an input string.

## AS-path Lists

For an AS-path access list, the input string is the AS path of the routes to which the list is applied with the route-map or neighbor filter-list commands. If the AS path matches the regular expression in the access list, the route matches the access list.

Example

The following commands apply access list 1 to routes inbound from BGP peer 10.5.5.2. Access list 1 uses a regular expression to deny routes that originate in autonomous system 32.

host1(config-router)#neighbor 10.5.5.2 remote-as 32 host1(config-router)#neighbor 10.5.5.2 filter-list 1 in host1(config-router)#exit host1(config)#ip as-path access-list 1 deny 32$

## Community Lists

For a community list, the input string is the community attribute of the routes to which the list is applied using a route-map command. If the community attribute matches the regular expression in the community list, the route matches the community list.

Example

The following commands apply route map 5 to routes forwarded to BGP peer 10.5.5.4. Route map 5 uses a regular expression to match community numbers ending with 305, setting the weight of matching routes to 150.

host1(config-router)#neighbor 10.5.5.4 remote-as 425 host1(config-router)#neighbor 10.5.5.4 route-map 5 out host1(config-router)#exit host1(config)#route-map 5 permit 10 host1(config-route-map)#match community 305$ host1(config-route-map)#set weight 150

## Community Numbers

When you use a regular expression to match a community number, use the appropriate format for the community number in the community list. If you issue the ip bgp-community new-format command, the community number has the format AA:NN where AA is a number that identifies the autonomous system, and NN is a number that identifies the community within the autonomous system. Otherwise, the community number is an integer in the range 1–4294967295.

## Metacharacters

Each regular expression consists of one or more metacharacters and zero or more complete or partial AS or community numbers. Table 5 describes the metacharacters supported for regular expression pattern-matching.

Table 5: Supported Regular Expression Metacharacters

Metacharacter | Description
--- | ---
^ | Matches the beginning of the input string. Alternatively, when used as the first character within brackets—[^ ]—matches any number except the ones specified within the brackets.
$ | Matches the end of the input string.
. | Matches any single character, including white space.
* | Matches zero or more sequences of the immediately previous character or pattern.
+ | Matches one or more sequences of the immediately previous character or pattern.
? | Matches zero or one sequence of the immediately previous character or pattern.
() | Specifies patterns for multiple use when followed by one of the multiplier metacharacters: asterisk (*), plus sign (+), or question mark (?).
[ ] | Matches any enclosed character; specifies a range of single characters.
– (hyphen) | Used within brackets to specify a range of AS or community numbers.
_ (underscore) | Matches a ^, a $, a comma, a space, a {, or a }. Placed on either side of a string to specify a literal and disallow substring matching. Numerals enclosed by underscores can be preceded or followed by any of the characters listed above.
| | Matches characters on either side of the metacharacter; logical OR.

## Using Metacharacters as Literal Tokens

You can remove the special meaning of a metacharacter by preceding it with a backslash (\). Such a construction denotes that the metacharacter is not treated as a metacharacter for that regular expression. It is simply a character or token with no special meaning, just as a numeral has no special meaning. The backslash applies only to the character immediately following it in the regular expression.

On an E Series router, you are likely to use the backslash only for the parentheses characters, ( or ). BGP indicates a segment of an AS path that is of type AS-confed-set or AS-confed-seq by enclosing that segment with parentheses.

Example

The following AS-path access list uses a regular expression to match routes that have an AS-path attribute that begins with any AS-confed-set or AS-confed-seq:

host1(config)#ip as-path access-list 1 permit ^\(

The following AS-path access list uses a regular expression to match routes that have an AS-path attribute that ends with any AS-confed-set or AS-confed-seq:

host1(config)#ip as-path access-list 1 permit \)$

The following AS-path access list uses a regular expression to match routes that have an AS-path attribute that includes the specific AS-confed-set or AS-confed-seq, (100 200):

host1(config)#ip as-path access-list 1 permit \(100 200\)

## Regular Expression Examples

Table 6 lists some representative regular expressions that you might use in an AS-path access list or community list, along with sample attribute values that match or do not match the regular expression.

Table 6: Sample Regular Expressions

Regular Expression | Matched AS-Path or Community Attribute | Example
--- | --- | ---
^12 | Begins with 12 | 12 23 4212 629 121245 19 but not 58 12 7
[^12] | Includes any numeral except 1 or 2 | 44 73 465 69 8 but not 1145 1912 2 49
305$ | Ends with 305 | 89 611 305305 42 30519 1305 6666:305
.5 | Includes any one character followed by the numeral 5 | 89 611 3533 252 12 998 600:500
1.9 | Includes a sequence of three characters, where the first character is numeral 1 and the third character is numeral 9 | 179 35 2433 252 129 48 2129 14600:2129 321:94
.* | Includes any character; matches all AS paths and community lists |
42* | Includes a number that has a numeral 4 followed by zero or more instances of the numeral 2 | 67 42 51314 33 252 422 483142 4 339 7831422
1(37)* | Includes a sequence that has a numeral 1 followed by zero or more instances of the pattern 37 | 137 42 211373737 29 4 1 but not 4 3737 78
42+ | Includes a number that has a numeral 4 immediately followed by one or more instances of the numeral 2 | 67 42 2133 252 422 48 but not 4 329 78
1(37)+ | Includes a sequence that has a numeral 1 immediately followed by one or more instances of the pattern 37 | 1373737 29 44 37137 78 137 42 21 but not 4 372 2121 37 5 1 456 881
42? | Includes a number that has a numeral 4 followed by zero or only one instance of the numeral 2 | 67 42 714 359 78 but not 33 252 422 48
1(37)? | Includes a sequence that has a numeral 1 followed by zero or only one instance of the pattern 37 | 137 42 2153 612 49 1 but not 4 13737 78
7.. | Includes a sequence of three characters, where the first character is numeral 7 | 600 700 10025 7771 In the following examples, the three characters are 7, space, 8: 307 800 6127 888 999
^7.. | Includes a number in the range 700 – 799 | 6127 723 999 700 100 600 but not 25 7771307 800
^7..$ | Consists only of a number in the range 700 – 799 | 723 700 but not 25 7771307 800 6127 723 999700 100 600
[621] | Includes any of the numerals 6, 2, or 1 | 60 4334 545 92 200710 86 53 The regular expression [162] has the same results.
[0-9] | Includes any number in the range 0–9 |
^\(22 431\) | (AS-path attribute only) Begins with the AS-confed-set or AS-confed-seq (22 431) | (22 431) 102(22 431) 55 76 but not 43 (22 431) 522 431 59
{41 19} | (AS-path attribute only) Includes the AS-set or AS-seq {41 19} | {41 19} 53 76 {41 19} 17 255 {41 19} but not 3 41 19 41 19 532
101 102 | 103 105 | Includes either sequence 101 102 or sequence 103 105 | 43 101 102 5103 105 22 but not 19 102 101102 103
_200_ | Includes the number 200 (as opposed to the pattern consisting of numeral 2, numeral 0, numeral 0) Our implementation of regular expressions is not literal. Substring matching is enabled by default. Specifying 200 (no underscores) results in a match on 200 and on 2005. The underscore metacharacter disables substring matching. | 33 200 422 48^200$ ^200 500$ but not 33 20 422 48 51 2005

For information about using AS-path access lists, see Access Lists. For information about using community lists, see Community Lists.