🔍 Regex Cheatsheet for GSC, GA4 & Looker Studio

A curated list of regular expressions for Google Search Console, GA4, and Looker Studio.

General Patterns

Fundamental regex patterns that are useful across all platforms.

Use Case	Regex Pattern	Description	Supported In
Match exact phrase	`^your-keyword$`	Matches only "your-keyword" exactly.	GSC GA4 Looker
Match multiple phrases (OR)	`keyword1\|keyword2`	Matches "keyword1" or "keyword2".	GSC GA4 Looker
Starts with...	`^start`	Matches anything starting with "start".	GSC GA4 Looker
Ends with...	`end$`	Matches anything ending in "end".	GSC GA4 Looker
Contains a word	`.word.`	Matches any string that contains "word". GSC's "contains" filter doesn't need the `.*`.	GA4 Looker
Exclude a word	`^(?!.exclude).`	Negative lookahead: excludes strings containing "exclude".	GA4 Looker
Match URL paths	`/blog/\|/news/`	Matches URLs containing either /blog/ or /news/.	GSC GA4 Looker
Match subdomain	`^https://(www\|shop)\.example\.com`	Matches `www` or `shop` subdomains for `example.com`.	GSC GA4 Looker
Case-insensitive match	`(?i)keyword`	Matches "keyword" in any case (e.g., Keyword, KEYWORD). GSC is case-insensitive by default.	GA4 Looker
Match numbers only	`^\d+$`	Matches strings containing only digits (0-9).	GA4 Looker
Match non-digits	`^\D+$`	Matches strings containing only non-numeric characters.	GA4 Looker
Match query parameters	`\?.*=`	Matches any URL that contains a query parameter (e.g., `?utm_source=...`).	GSC GA4 Looker

Use these patterns in the 'Custom (regex)' filter for Queries or Pages. Note: Query filters are case-insensitive.

Use Case	Regex Pattern	Example & Explanation
Find Question-Based Queries	`^(who\|what\|where\|when\|why\|how)`	Matches queries starting with common question words. Great for finding informational content opportunities. E.g., "what is regex".
Comparative / "vs" Queries	`vs\|versus`	Finds queries containing "vs" or "versus". Helps identify users comparing products or services. E.g., "ga4 vs universal analytics".
Filter for Brand Name (and misspellings)	`mybrand\|mybrnd\|my brand`	Use the pipe `\|` to mean "OR". This matches queries containing "mybrand", "mybrnd", or "my brand". Replace with your brand variations.
Exclude Brand Queries	`Filter > Doesn't match regex > yourbrand`	Use a "Doesn't match" filter to see all non-branded queries.
Filter URLs for a Specific Subdirectory	`/blog/`	Finds all pages within the `/blog/` subdirectory. E.g., `https://example.com/blog/my-post`.
Filter URLs by Year/Month	`/2023/10/`	Useful for date-based URL structures, like news sites or blogs, to analyze content from a specific period.
Find Long-Tail Queries (5+ words)	`([^" "]*\s){4,}?`	Matches queries with at least 4 spaces (which means 5+ words). Adjust the number `{4,}` to find shorter or longer queries.

Used in filters for explorations, segments, and audiences. GA4 uses RE2 syntax and requires a full match (the entire string must match the pattern).

Use Case	Regex Pattern	Example & Explanation
Match All Blog Pages	`^/blog.*`	`^` matches the start of the page path. `.*` matches any character zero or more times. Finds `/blog`, `/blog/post-1`, etc.
Match Product or Service Pages	`^/(products\|services)/.*`	Groups terms with `()` and uses `\|` for OR. Matches any page path starting with `/products/` or `/services/`.
Match Specific Product Detail Pages	`^/products/[0-9a-zA-Z-]+`	Matches URLs like `/products/cool-gadget-123`. `[0-9a-zA-Z-]+` matches any combination of numbers, letters, and hyphens one or more times (`+`).
Exclude a Subdirectory	`Use "does not match regex" > ^/admin.*`	Create a filter that excludes page paths starting with `/admin`. This is useful for filtering out internal traffic.
Match Traffic from Social Media	`facebook\|twitter\|linkedin\|instagram`	Use in the "Session source" dimension filter to group major social media referrers.
Match URLs ending with a Trailing Slash	`.*/$`	`$` matches the end of the string. This finds all URLs that end with a `/`. Useful for investigating redirect or canonical issues.
Isolate IP Addresses (Internal Traffic)	`^192\.168\.1\..*`	Matches any IP in the `192.168.1.x` range. The `\.` escapes the dot to match a literal period, not any character.

Used in calculated fields with functions like `REGEXP_MATCH`, `REGEXP_EXTRACT`, and `REGEXP_REPLACE` to create new dimensions and metrics.

Use Case	Looker Studio Formula	Explanation
Group Content into Buckets	`CASE WHEN REGEXP_MATCH(Page, '.blog.') THEN 'Blog' WHEN REGEXP_MATCH(Page, './products/.') THEN 'Product Page' ELSE 'Other' END`	Uses `REGEXP_MATCH` within a CASE statement to categorize pages based on their URL. `.*` is a wildcard for any characters.
Extract Subdirectory from URL	`REGEXP_EXTRACT(Page, '^/([^/]+)/.*')`	Extracts the first-level subdirectory from a page path. e.g., for `/laptops/reviews/`, it would return `laptops`. `[^/]+` matches any character that is NOT a slash.
Clean Up UTM Campaign Names	`REGEXP_REPLACE(Campaign, '(_\|-)', ' ')`	Replaces all underscores `_` or hyphens `-` in your campaign names with a space for cleaner reporting. E.g., `fall_sale-2023` becomes `fall sale 2023`.
Standardize UTM Medium (e.g., cpc)	`REGEXP_REPLACE(Medium, '(?i)paid search\|ppc', 'cpc')`	Groups different variations of paid search medium into a single `cpc`. `(?i)` makes the match case-insensitive.
Extract Device from User Agent	`CASE WHEN REGEXP_MATCH(User Agent, '(?i)mobile\|android\|iphone') THEN 'Mobile' WHEN REGEXP_MATCH(User Agent, '(?i)tablet\|ipad') THEN 'Tablet' ELSE 'Desktop' END`	Creates a custom `Device` dimension by searching for keywords in the full User Agent string.