What does the exclamation mark mean in pattern groups as in the Multiplicative Pattern Parser?
ie this (found in the tutorial)
{FIRST_NAME!}{LAST_NAME!}
{FIRST_NAME!}{INITIAL}{LAST_NAME!}
As usual it’s not explained in the help, and the help says see examples. The help is very thin and too much text to explain nothing. One tutorial example isn’t enough. There should be several examples building from the simplest hello world example to more complex.
Can’t edit my community profile name so it looks like I’m accidentally stuck with Pattern Groups
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Hi @Pattern Groups ,
the Multiplicative Pattern parser (MPP) belongs to the most complicated steps I would say. Yes, you are right the documentation is not ideal and is missing especially the part with exclamation mark which is really important to know.
The MPP is actually an enhanced version of Patern Parser. It just gives you instead of of a single output record (the best pattern), multiple options (all possible patterns which fit the input).
The component followed by the exclamation mark actually means that the component is VERIFIED against a lookup file which should be part of the component definition.
Let’s take the example for the Multiplicative Pattern Parser tutorial (06.09 Multiplicative Pattern Parser.plan).
There is a component LAST_NAME defined by it’s definition + the verifier. The verified output is stored in STD_LAST_NAME
you can use the component within a pattern definition
WITH the exclamation mark = the value HAS TO BE VERIFIED against the lookup file
WITHOUT the exclamation mark = the value DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VERIFIED against the lookup file, just the component definition / parsing is enough.
WITH QUESTION MARK = the component is completely optional
