Variables in RegEx & Is this an acceptable use for DGraph

Users
1

Is it possible to use variables inside a regex query. I copied the query from your documentation and tried to replace “Steven Sp” with a string variable. I am using this query with the JavaScript library. I can get it to work with the ratel interface.

This:

const query = `query all($a: string) {
        users(func: regex(username, /^$a.*$/))
        {
            uid
            name
            emailAddress
            username
            timezone
            bio
        }
    };`

Didn’t seem to work for me, I get an error.

Also this (just using javascript to do the string interpolation):

function eqQuery(predicate: string, usernameString: string) {
    return `query {
        users(func: regex(${predicate}, "/^${usernameString}.*$/"))
        {
            uid
            name
            emailAddress
            username
            timezone
            bio
        }
    }`;
}

Returns a: “Function name: regex is not valid” error.

Not sure what I am doing wrong.

A follow on question from “is it possible to use variables in regex”, is should I?

The app I am building will consist of user profiles that I would like to have searchable, and for terms like “name” and “username” ideally the search would work with a partial match, so I am thinking regex. Is this reasonable? Or should I be trying to put an indexed search layer in front of the underlying DGraph layer?

2

It is possible to use variables and regexp. This works for me: regexp(predicate, /$variable/)

3

It is possible to use variables and regexp. This works for me:
regexp(predicate, /$variable/)

4

Hey @llonchj,

Thanks for the quick reply. I was missing the “p” I just had regex! Not regexp. :open_mouth:

So this works:

function query(usernamePartialString: string): string {
    return `query {
        users(func: regexp(username, /${usernamePartialString}/))
        {
            uid
            name
            emailAddress
            username
            timezone
            bio
        }
    }`;
}

when calling Dgraph....query(query('somestring'))

This however does not

const query = `query all($a: string) {
        users(func: regexp(username, /$a/))
        {
            uid
            name
            emailAddress
            username
            timezone
            bio
        }
    };`

when calling Dgraph.....queryWithVars(query, vars);

I get a Regular expression is too wide-ranging and can't be executed efficiently. Weird.

I can use the first method for now, so thanks again!

5

What is the content of $a when you call QueryWithVars?

6

Below is the full sample, the commented out option is the one that works. In both cases I am searching the same username “vespertilian” which is the only demo user I have loaded.

I did notice in the docs that there should be a minimum requirement setup for regex searching.

// function query(usernamePartialString: string): string {
//     return `query {
//         users(func: regexp(username, /${usernamePartialString}/))
//         {
//             uid
//             name
//             emailAddress
//             username
//             timezone
//             bio
//         }
//     }`;
// }

const query = `query all($a: string) {
        users(func: regexp(username, /$a/))
        {
            uid
            name
            emailAddress
            username
            timezone
            bio
        }
 };`

export async function usersUsernameResolver(
    _: any,
    {username} : any,
    context: any,
    info: any,
    dgraphClient: DgraphClient = newDgraphClient()
) {
    const vars = { $a: username};

    let result = null;
    try {
        // const res = await dgraphClient.newTxn().query(query(username));
        const res = await dgraphClient.newTxn().queryWithVars(query, vars);
        const jsonStr = new Buffer(res.getJson_asU8()).toString();
        result = JSON.parse(jsonStr).users;
        console.log(result)
    } catch(e) {
       console.log(e)
    }
    return result;
}
7

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