# Searching for URLs in messages using regex

**URL:** <https://forum.mattermost.com/t/searching-for-urls-in-messages-using-regex/11990>\
**Category:** Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [July 29, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/searching-for-urls-in-messages-using-regex/11990 "2021-07-29T07:24:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![luisjomen2a](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/luisjomen2a/32/4974_2.png) [@luisjomen2a](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/luisjomen2a)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/searching-for-urls-in-messages-using-regex/11990/1 "2021-07-29T07:24:02Z")

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While using the search bar, I’m try to find a URL that I posted somewhere that looks like this `https://wlib-text.fr/?nameid=45561828`  
I can’t seem to find it while using anything other than  
`*wlib*`, i’ve tried, `*wlib\-text*`, `*wlib-text*`, `*45561828*` or even the whole URL with quotes.

Are regex fully supported in the search bar? I can see that the wildcard `*` certainly is.

Thanks.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![agriesser](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.mattermost.com/agriesser/32/5644_2.png) [@agriesser](https://forum.mattermost.com/u/agriesser)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.mattermost.com/t/searching-for-urls-in-messages-using-regex/11990/2 "2023-04-17T05:47:01Z")

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Hi @luisjomen2a and sorry for the late reply, I just stumbled upon this old topic here.

Unfortunately, Mattermost search does not support Regular Expressions and there are some limitations based on the database backend you’re using when using database search, see [Search for messages — Mattermost documentation](https://docs.mattermost.com/channels/search-for-messages.html)

F.ex. PostgreSQL does not support searching for URLs at all.

I know this topic is old, but it might still be relevant, so if you’re on the free edition, you could try to enable the experimental Bleve search which might help, just give it a try:

[https://docs.mattermost.com/deploy/bleve-search.html](https://docs.mattermost.com/deploy/bleve-search.html)