RegEx filter to merge different urls (PhpBB)

Question

I have a phpBB forum and I want to merge the different urls Google Analytics throws up into 1, eg:

 /forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6457
 /forum/viewtopic.php?t=6457
 /forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6457&start=40

I'd like them all to point to

/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6457

I devised the following regEx filter:

Search and replace -> filter field: Request URI

Search string: \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?f=([0-9]*)&t=[0-9]

Replace string: \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?t=([0-9]+)$

It doesn't work, I am not sure what I am missing here. Any help?

The replace string can not be a regex again. Also when you do ?f=([0-9]*) it forces f= to be there, so your second URL will not match as it has ?t=6457. And when you do &t=[0-9] the [0-9] means a single character taken from the set of 0 to 9, so in your first URL &t=6457 won't match the regex as it has 4 characters, not one. You need [0-9]+ to match multiple digits. — Patrick Mevzek, Sep 19 '19 at 22:57

pjmg · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-18 10:08:51Z

1

Search string: \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?f=([0-9]*)&t=[0-9]

Replace f with [a-z] to capture any character between a and z.
+ to capture one or more of the parameter (16 or 6457, etc..) but if you know the exact length of this string you can replace it with {1,5} for example.
capture everything after : .*

\/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?([a-z]=([0-9]+)).*

If you provide more urls to capture I can edit and try to adjust the regex.

answered Sep 18 '19 at 10:08

pjmg

1668 bronze badges

What I think I understand now is that a search and replace will not work, see eg. stackoverflow.com/questions/13742484/…. I am using an advanced filter to get rid of the f=. Field A \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?(f=([0-9]+))(.*), Field B nothing, Output \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?$A2 Not sure if it's going to work. If it does, I can use a second one to get rid of all that comes behind t=1234 – Caravanistan Sep 20 '19 at 6:22
1

Changed Field A to \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?(f=([0-9]+))&(t=([0-9]+))(.*) – Caravanistan Sep 20 '19 at 7:14

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Caravanistan · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-23 09:00:04Z

1

Found the solution, with thanks to Patrick Mevzek and jpmg:

Filter type needed to be advanced, not search and replace.

Field A: \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?(f=([0-9]+))&(t=([0-9]+))(.*)

Field B: -

Output: \/forum\/viewtopic\.php\?$A3

answered Sep 23 '19 at 9:00

Caravanistan

1614 bronze badges

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