Pattern matching

Pattern matching is an essential skill often associated with regular expressions (or regex), which is important for identifying and manipulating specific patterns in textual data. Although the Power Query M language lacks direct support for regex, it provides a wealth of functions that can help address these types of requirements. In this section, we explore pattern matching within the constraints of Power Query, highlighting some key techniques and strategies for addressing these challenges.

Basics of pattern matching

Pattern matching is incredibly useful for finding and extracting specific character sequences from data. That process relies heavily on the use of text functions. The M language is equipped with various functions that operate on text values. These functions can facilitate certain aspects relevant to pattern matching. They offer a range of capabilities, from basic to more advanced string operations.

Here, we’ll delve into various considerations...