The Pattern-Matching Syntax Extension

The X-PATTERN attribute syntax extension can be used to define new string syntaxes with values restricted by one or more regular expressions. The following example adds an X-PATTERN attribute syntax to the schema.

$ ldapmodify -p 1389 -h localhost -D "cn=Directory Manager" -w password
dn: cn=schema
changetype: modify
add: ldapsyntaxes
ldapSyntaxes: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.1 DESC 'Host and Port in the format of HOST:PORT'
  X-PATTERN '^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9-]+:[0-9]+$' )

This new syntax can be used to define attributes and object classes, as shown in the following example.

$ ldapmodify -p 1389 -h localhost -D "cn=Directory Manager" -w password
dn: cn=schema
changetype: modify
add: attributetypes
attributetypes: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.2 NAME 'example-attr-regex' SYNTAX
1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.1 )
-
add: objectclasses
objectclasses: ( 1.3.6.1.4.1.32473.3 NAME 'exampleOCregex' SUP top AUXILIARY MUST
example-attr-regex)
-

Values for example-attr-regex attributes must match the defined pattern, or the server rejects them. The following attribute fits pattern defined in the example syntax, so the server accepts it:

example-attr-regex: localhost:389

The following attribute is rejected because it does not include the required colon and numeric string:

localhost

The following attribute is rejected because it contains periods (.), which are not specified as part of the HOST component:

host.domain.com:389