.. _functx_number-of-matches:

========================
functx:number-of-matches
======================== 

The number of regions that match a pattern

Description
~~~~~~~~~~~
The functx:number-of-matches function counts the number of times a string 
matches a particular pattern (regular expression). It does not count overlapping 
regions.

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   :widths: 40 60
   :header-rows: 1

   * - **Parameters**
     - **Description**
   * - arg:string()
     - the string to test
   * - pattern:string()
     - the regular expression

Examples
~~~~~~~~
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   :widths: 50 50
   :header-rows: 1

   * - **XPath**
     - **Results**
   * - functx:number-of-matches('abcabc','ab')
     - 2
   * - functx:number-of-matches('12345','\d')
     - 5
   * - functx:number-of-matches('aaaaaa','aaa')
     - 2

See Also
~~~~~~~~

.. toctree::
   :titlesonly:
   :glob:

* :ref:`matches`.