GROUP Operator

Overview of the GROUP Operator

Use the GROUP (LIST) operator to search for any element from a set of words (or data patterns) that are defined in a MAP namespace. A location will be marked as a match if any of the data patterns defined in the namespace is found in the location.

Defining a GROUP

Using the GROUP (LIST) operator, you can search for any entry that is defined in the selected MAP namespace(s).

The generic GLASS syntax for GROUP and MAP is:

MAP [NOCASE|DECOMPOSE] '<namespace>' [NOCASE|DECOMPOSE] '<entry 1>', [NOCASE|DECOMPOSE] '<entry 2>', ..., [NOCASE|DECOMPOSE] '<entry N>'
GROUP [NOCASE|DECOMPOSE] '<namespace>'

Using the GROUP operator is equivalent to using multiple WORD / OR operators in a single expression.

For example, the expressions in Line 1 and Line 2 is equivalent to Line 3 and will search for data that contains David, James, Michael, or William.

GROUP Example 1

ACME Corporation defines a MAP namespace for the accepted ccTLD values (AU, IE, KR, SG, UK, US) in a regional customer ID and searches for these values by referencing the namespace in the GROUP operator.

MAP 'ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD' 'AU', 'IE', 'KR', 'SG', 'UK', 'US'
GROUP 'ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD'

All the following lines will be returned as match locations by the GLASS pattern matching engine:

The equivalent configuration in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode is:

• Data type component: LIST (GROUP)
  • Data pattern to search for (+ Create Map):
    • MAP Label: ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD
    • MAP Entries: 'AU', 'IE', 'KR', 'SG', 'UK', 'US'

Using Multiple Namespaces in a GROUP

There may be instances where you want to maintain separate MAP namespaces for use across multiple GLASS data types.

For example, instead of creating a single namespace that contains the names of all employees, it may be easier to manage separate namespaces for employee names across different worksites (e.g. IE_NAMES, SG_NAMES, US_NAMES).

In such instances, you can use the COPY operator to copy the contents from one namespace into another, and still refer to a single MAP namespace from the GROUP operator.

MAP 'IE_NAMES' 'Cara', 'Grainne', 'Shannon'
MAP 'SG_NAMES' 'Charlotte', 'Evelyn', 'Layla', 'Sarah'
MAP 'US_NAMES' 'Ava', 'Gabrielle', 'Ruby', 'Sophie'
MAP 'GLOBAL_NAMES' COPY 'IE_NAMES', COPY 'SG_NAMES', COPY 'US_NAMES'
GROUP 'GLOBAL_NAMES'

See MAP Namespace - Adding or Removing Keys in a MAP Namespace for more information.

GLASS Studio Visual Builder Mode

When multiple namespaces are selected for the LIST (GROUP) component in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode, GLASS Studio automatically creates a new namespace with a unique label and copies the selected namespaces to the new namespace using the COPY operator.

Matching a LIST

Matches are not limited by traditional word boundaries (e.g. whitespaces, new lines) and can happen anywhere in a string or data stream, unless pattern boundaries are defined.

LIST Example 2

You write a simple GLASS expression to search for the accepted ccTLD values (AU, IE, KR, SG, UK, US) in a regional customer ID:

MAP 'ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD' 'AU', 'IE', 'KR', 'SG', 'UK', 'US'
GROUP 'ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD'

As no pattern boundaries are defined, all the following lines will be returned as match locations by the GLASS pattern matching engine:

The equivalent configuration in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode is:

• Data type component: LIST (GROUP)
  • Data pattern to search for (+ Create Map):
    • MAP Label: ACME_CUST_ID_CCTLD
    • MAP Entries: 'AU', 'IE', 'KR', 'SG', 'UK', 'US'

Case Sensitivity of a LIST

The NOCASE (No Case) option determines if the GLASS pattern matching engine treats uppercase and lowercase characters as distinct (case sensitive) or equal (case-insensitive) characters.

By default, GLASS patterns are case sensitive. This means uppercase and lowercase characters are distinct characters. For example, lowercase a and uppercase A are treated as different characters by the GLASS pattern matching engine.

The GLASS syntax to define a case-sensitive GROUP is:

GROUP '<list of data patterns>'

If the NOCASE (No Case) option is specified or checked in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode, uppercase and lowercase characters are equal. For example, lowercase a and uppercase A are treated as the same character by the GLASS pattern matching engine.

The GLASS syntax to define a case-insensitive GROUP is:

GROUP NOCASE '<list of data patterns>'

In GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode, you can specify the NOCASE option for a GROUP at a global namespace level using the MAP operator.

See MAP namespace for more information.

LIST Example 3

MAP 'IE_NAMES' 'Charlie', 'Conor', 'Daniel', 'Jack', 'Liam', 'Noah'
GROUP NOCASE 'IE_NAMES'

Using the GLASS expression in Example 3, all the following lines will be returned as match locations by the GLASS pattern matching engine:

Applying the NOCASE option globally to the MAP namespace will also return Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3 as match locations:

MAP NOCASE 'IE_NAMES' 'Charlie', 'Conor', 'Daniel', 'Jack', 'Liam', 'Noah'
GROUP 'IE_NAMES'

The equivalent configuration in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode is:

• MAP Name: 'IE_NAMES'
• MAP Entries: 'Charlie', 'Conor', 'Daniel', 'Jack', 'Liam', 'Noah'
• MAP No Case option: Checked
• Data type component: LIST (GROUP)
  • List namespace selection: 'IE_NAMES'

Decomposing a LIST

If the DECOMPOSE (Decompose) option is specified or checked, the GLASS pattern matching engine matches the search pattern both in its original form and normalized (ASCII) form, where applicable.

This is useful when searching for data patterns that contain language-specific accents or diacritics (e.g. Zürich).

The GLASS syntax to decompose a GROUP is:

GROUP DECOMPOSE '<list of data patterns>'

In GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode, you can specify the DECOMPOSE option for a GROUP at a global namespace level using the MAP operator.

See MAP namespace for more information.

LIST Example 4

MAP 'BELGIAN_NAMES' 'aäron', 'angélique', 'björn', 'frédéric', 'gisèle', 'jean-luc'
GROUP NOCASE DECOMPOSE 'BELGIAN_NAMES'

Using the GLASS expression in Example 4, all the following lines will be returned as match locations by the GLASS pattern matching engine:

Applying the DECOMPOSE and NOCASE option globally to the MAP namespace will also return Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3 as match locations:

MAP NOCASE DECOMPOSE 'BELGIAN_NAMES' 'aäron', 'angélique', 'björn', 'frédéric', 'gisèle', 'jean-luc'
GROUP 'BELGIAN_NAMES'

The equivalent configuration in GLASS Studio Visual Builder mode is:

• MAP Name: 'BELGIAN_NAMES'
• MAP Entries: 'aäron', 'angélique', 'björn', 'frédéric', 'gisèle', 'jean-luc'
• MAP No Case (NOCASE) option: Checked
• MAP Decompose (DECOMPOSE) option: Checked
• Data type component: LIST (GROUP)
  • List namespace selection: 'IE_NAMES'

Pattern Rules for a GROUP

You can define the following pattern rules when searching for elements defined in the MAP namespace(s) using the LIST (GROUP) component:

1. BOUND

Boundary Rules for a GROUP

The BOUND precision rule lets you define the list possible characters that the must be found before (BOUND LEFT), after (BOUND RIGHT), or surrounding (BOUND) any data pattern defined in a namespace for a GROUP for it to be a match.

See BOUND Rule for more information.