# Which RegEx syntax does Gramps use?

**URL:** <https://gramps.discourse.group/t/which-regex-syntax-does-gramps-use/2278>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** regular-expression\
**Created:** [February 18, 2022, 11:21am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/which-regex-syntax-does-gramps-use/2278 "2022-02-18T11:21:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![prculley](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/prculley/32/41_2.png) [@prculley](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/prculley)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/which-regex-syntax-does-gramps-use/2278/8 "2022-02-18T16:12:44Z")

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Gramps uses the Python version of regular expressions [re — Regular expression operations — Python 3.10.2 documentation](https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html)

I could not find any reference to suggest that it follows any of the POSIX levels, although for the usage of our filters I suspect that this doesn’t matter.

I think that for the vast majority of likely re used in Gramps, the relatively minor variations in syntax just doesn’t matter. I suppose that a very advanced user might be able to find some expression where it does; but I also suspect that user could read the Python docs to get the details.

Note in the documentation that the Python version of re has changed over time, usually in a backward compatible fashion. So the actual syntax of Gramps would be that of the version of Python that you have installed to run Gramps.

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