REGEXP_TABLE(5) REGEXP_TABLE(5)
NAME
regexp_table - format of Postfix regular expression tables
SYNOPSIS
postmap -fq "string" regexp:/etc/postfix/filename
postmap -fq - regexp:/etc/postfix/filename <inputfile
DESCRIPTION
The Postfix mail system uses optional tables for address
rewriting or mail routing. These tables are usually in dbm
or db format.
Alternatively, lookup tables can be specified in POSIX
regular expression form. In this case, each input is com-
pared against a list of patterns, and when a match is
found the corresponding result is returned.
To find out what types of lookup tables your Postfix sys-
tem supports use the postconf -m command.
To test lookup tables, use the postmap -fq command as
described in the SYNOPSIS above.
TABLE FORMAT
The general form of a Postfix regular expression table is:
/pattern/flags result
When pattern matches the input string, use the cor-
responding result value.
!/pattern/flags result
When pattern does not match the input string, use
the corresponding result value.
if /pattern/flags
endif Match the input string against the patterns between
if and endif, if and only if that same input string
also matches pattern. The if..endif can nest.
Note: do not prepend whitespace to patterns inside
if..endif.
if !/pattern/flags
endif Match the input string against the patterns between
if and endif, if and only if that same input string
does not match pattern. The if..endif can nest.
blank lines and comments
Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored,
as are lines whose first non-whitespace character
is a `#'.
multi-line text
A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A
line that starts with whitespace continues a logi-
cal line.
Each pattern is a POSIX regular expression enclosed by a
pair of delimiters. The regular expression syntax is docu-
mented in re_format(7) with 4.4BSD, in regex(5) with
Solaris, and in regex(7) with Linux. Other systems may use
other document names.
The expression delimiter can be any character, except
whitespace or characters that have special meaning (tradi-
tionally the forward slash is used). The regular expres-
sion can contain whitespace.
By default, matching is case-insensitive, and newlines are
not treated as special characters. The behavior is con-
trolled by flags, which are toggled by appending one or
more of the following characters after the pattern:
i (default: on)
Toggles the case sensitivity flag. By default,
matching is case insensitive.
x (default: on)
Toggles the extended expression syntax flag. By
default, support for extended expression syntax is
enabled.
m (default: off)
Toggle the multi-line mode flag. When this flag is
on, the ^ and $ metacharacters match immediately
after and immediately before a newline character,
respectively, in addition to matching at the start
and end of the input string.
TABLE SEARCH ORDER
Patterns are applied in the order as specified in the
table, until a pattern is found that matches the input
string.
Each pattern is applied to the entire input string.
Depending on the application, that string is an entire
client hostname, an entire client IP address, or an entire
mail address. Thus, no parent domain or parent network
search is done, and user@domain mail addresses are not
broken up into their user and domain constituent parts,
nor is user+foo broken up into user and foo.
TEXT SUBSTITUTION
Substitution of substrings from the matched expression
into the result string is possible using $1, $2, etc.. The
macros in the result string may need to be written as ${n}
or $(n) if they aren't followed by whitespace.
Note: since negated patterns (those preceded by !) return
a result when the expression does not match, substitutions
are not available for negated patterns.
EXAMPLE SMTPD ACCESS MAP
# Disallow sender-specified routing. This is a must if you relay mail
# for other domains.
/[%!@].*[%!@]/ 550 Sender-specified routing rejected
# Postmaster is OK, that way they can talk to us about how to fix
# their problem.
/^postmaster@/ OK
# Protect your outgoing majordomo exploders
if !/^owner-/
/^(.*)-outgoing@(.*)$/ 550 Use ${1}@${2} instead
endif
EXAMPLE HEADER FILTER MAP
# These were once common in junk mail.
/^Subject: make money fast/ REJECT
/^To: friend@public\.com/ REJECT
EXAMPLE BODY FILTER MAP
# First skip over base 64 encoded text to save CPU cycles.
~^[[:alnum:]+/]{60,}$~ OK
# Put your own body patterns here.
SEE ALSO
postmap(1), Postfix lookup table manager
pcre_table(5), format of PCRE tables
cidr_table(5), format of CIDR tables
README FILES
DATABASE_README, Postfix lookup table overview
AUTHOR(S)
The regexp table lookup code was originally written by:
LaMont Jones
lamont@hp.com
That code was based on the PCRE dictionary contributed by:
Andrew McNamara
andrewm@connect.com.au
connect.com.au Pty. Ltd.
Level 3, 213 Miller St
North Sydney, NSW, Australia
Adopted and adapted by:
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
REGEXP_TABLE(5)