Regex expression in mapinfo sql to remove special character

Question

Is there a way to clean the values in the column to just have A-Z 0-9 and _ ?

In python/regex I run

def Alphanumeric(string):
 import re
 clean_string=re.sub(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9‌​_]', '', string)
 return clean_string

I need to do this in Mapinfo as an update column. I see something close in http://nyalldawson.net/2013/05/regular-expressions-in-mapbasic/ and am in the process of exploring this.

Additionally, I know I can run InStr() for each of these values but I am hoping for a one-liner.

Answer 1

I searched for "mapbasic regex" and found what looks to be what you may need posted in the nyalldawson.net blog:

If you’re not familiar with regular expressions, they’re an extremely powerful tool for string manipulation. They can be somewhat daunting at first, but with a bit of practice they’ll open up all kinds of string processing which would otherwise be extremely convoluted or impossible.

Up until now there’s been no way of using the beauty of regular expressions within MapInfo. Now, with MbRegEx, all their mighty power can be fully utilised within your MapBasic scripts!