# Regex quoting?
**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730
**Category:** Usage
**Created:** [April 23, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730 "2024-04-23T22:10:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dabrahams](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/dabrahams)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730/1 "2024-04-23T22:10:47Z")
I have a string in a variable that I want to match literally as a regular expression. I want any special regex characters to be interpreted literally. In most environments there’s a “regex quote” operation that transforms a literal string into a corresponding regex. Do we have that for CMake?
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### Author:  [@craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/craig.scott)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730/2 "2024-04-24T21:35:32Z")
CMake supports lua-style bracket syntax as an alternative to quoting with `"` characters: [https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-language.7.html#bracket-argument](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-language.7.html#bracket-argument)
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### Author:  [@dabrahams](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/dabrahams)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730/3 "2024-04-24T23:22:55Z")
I know about that feature, but I don’t see how it helps. If I understand that feature correctly, it’s a syntax for string literals. But as I wrote above, I don’t have a literal, I have **a string in a variable** that I want to match literally using one of the functions that takes a regex argument. if the string in that variable happens to contain a `*`, for example, I want it to match a `*` rather than being treated as a quantifier. I am looking for a function that knows about the special regex characters and escapes them so they will be interpreted literally, e.g. it replaces `*` with `[*]` or `\*` in the string.
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### Author:  [@craig.scott](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/craig.scott)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730/4 "2024-04-25T11:17:05Z")
To my knowledge, CMake does not provide anything to do what you’re asking.
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### Author:  [@ClausKlein](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ClausKlein)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2024, 9:43am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/regex-quoting/10730/5 "2024-04-26T09:43:28Z")
[Quoting metacharacters]([perlre - Perl regular expressions - Perldoc Browser](https://perldoc.perl.org/perlre#Quoting) metacharacters)
See a common idiom to disable or quote the special meanings of regular expression metacharacters in a string that you want to use for a pattern. Simply quote all non-“word” characters.