Using regular expressions in entities
Learn how to use regular expressions in your NLU entities to establish patterns that help the system locate, match, and manage text.
Pattern entities use regular expressions (regex) to match any pattern of text, such as the format of an email address, a phone number, or an incident or case ID.
Note: ServiceNow uses and supports Java regex exclusively and not other vendor options, such as Perl regex.
Regex examples
For a full example of regex code used in a pattern entity, see Create a pattern entity.
The following four examples provide the format and regex code for different pattern entities.
Knowledge base article
ServiceNow Knowledge Base (KB) articles use the format KB1234567. The regex code is KB\d{7}, where KB = knowledge base record and d{7} = 7 digits.
Create a pattern entity for a KB article.
Case number
Case tasks use the format CS1234567. The regex code is CS\d{7} where CS = case record and d{7} = 7 digits.
Create a pattern entity for a case number.
Email address
Email addresses use the format name@servicenow.com. The regex code is \b[a-zA-Z0-9&*/_.+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+\b, which supports these formats: name@servicenow.com and name@servicenow.co.in.
Create a pattern entity for email addresses.
Phone number
United States phone numbers use the format 555-123-4567. The regex code is \d{10}|(?:\d{3}-){2}\d{4}|\(\d{3}\)\d{3}-?\d{4}, which supports these formats: 5108882062,510-888-2062, and (510)888-2062.
Create a pattern entity for a United States phone number.
Regex resources
For further information on regular expressions, see the following external links.