<function name="match" parent="string" type="libraryfunc"> <description>Finds a <page text="Pattern">Patterns</page> in a string.</description> <realm>Shared and Menu</realm> <args> <arg name="string" type="string">String which should be searched in for matches.</arg> <arg name="pattern" type="string">The pattern that defines what should be matched.</arg> <arg name="startPosition" type="number" default="1">The start index to start the matching from, can be negative to start the match from a position relative to the end.</arg> </args> <rets> <ret name="" type="vararg">Matched text(s)</ret> </rets> </function> <example> <code> local toMatch = "this is a sample text" print( string.match( toMatch, "sample" ) ) -- regex works⤶ -- patterns work⤶ print( string.match( toMatch, "^[a-z]" ) ) print( string.match( toMatch, "^this" ) ) print( string.match( toMatch, "^..is" ) ) print( string.match( toMatch, "text$" ) ) -- entire string print( string.match( toMatch, "^.*$" ) ) -- multiple return values⤶ print( string.match( toMatch, "(this) is a (%w+)" ) )⤶ -- nil print( string.match( toMatch, "this$" ) ) print( string.match( toMatch, "nil" ) ) </code> <output> ``` sample t this this text this is a sample text this sample ⤶ nil nil ``` </output> </example>