URL pattern matching

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Overview

URL pattern matching is a powerful feature in Usertour that helps you control exactly where your content appears. You can use it to:

• Auto-start onboarding flows or product tours
• Progress to the next step based on URL changes
• Mark checklist tasks as completed when users reach certain pages
• Control where specific content appears in your application

Note: These URL pattern rules apply to Current page conditions only. For Navigate to page actions, you’ll need to use the full URL and can insert user attributes for dynamic values.

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Quick Reference

Here are the key rules to remember:

• Only specify the URL parts you care about - omit the rest
• Use - as a wildcard to match anything
• Use :segment to match a single dynamic segment
• You can specify multiple patterns to include or exclude

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Common Patterns

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1. Exact Path Matching

/app/dashboard

This matches any domain with exactly this path.

✅ Matches:

• https://example.com/app/dashboard
• http://example.com/app/dashboard
• https://other-example.com/app/dashboard

❌ Does not match:

• https://example.com/app
• https://example.com/app/dashboard/sub
• https://example.com/app/dashboard/sub/page

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2. Including Subpaths

/app*

The * matches everything (including nothing).

✅ Matches:

• https://example.com/app
• https://example.com/app/projects
• https://example.com/app/projects/1
• https://other-example.com/app
• https://example.com/applications

❌ Does not match:

• https://example.com/settings

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3. Only Subpaths

/app/*

Note the / before the *.

✅ Matches:

• https://example.com/app/projects
• https://example.com/app/projects/1
• https://other-example.com/app/projects

❌ Does not match:

• https://example.com/app
• https://example.com/applications

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4. Dynamic Path Segments

/projects/:project/details

:project matches any single path segment (anything except /).

✅ Matches:

• https://example.com/projects/1/details
• https://example.com/projects/2/details

❌ Does not match:

• https://example.com/projects/1/details/edit
• https://example.com/projects/1/history

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5. Mixing Dynamic Segments and Subpaths

/app/:company/projects/*

✅ Matches:

• https://example.com/app/apple/projects/1
• https://example.com/app/banana/projects/1
• https://example.com/app/banana/projects/1/details

❌ Does not match:

• https://example.com/app/apple/projects

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6. Specific Domain

app.com

✅ Matches:

• https://app.com/
• https://app.com/any/path

❌ Does not match:

• https://www.app.com/
• https://not-app.com/

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7. Dynamic Subdomain

:subdomain.app.com

✅ Matches:

• https://www.app.com/
• https://www.app.com/any/path
• https://dashboard.app.com/

❌ Does not match:

• https://app.com/
• https://multiple.levels.app.com/
• https://www.not-app.com/

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8. Mix Domain and Path

:subdomain.example.com/app/:company/projects\*

✅ Matches:

• https://dashboard.example.com/app/apple/projects
• https://dashboard.example.com/app/apple/projects/1

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URL Structure

Let’s break down a URL into its components:

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
\___/   \________/\_________________/ \___________/ \____/
  |         |              |                |          |
scheme    domain          path            query     fragment

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Scheme

The part before :// (usually http or https).

• Usually optional in patterns
• Only specify if you need to match a specific scheme

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
\___/
  |
scheme

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Domain

The part between :// and the first /.

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
        \________/
            |
          domain

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Dynamic Subdomains

To match dynamic subdomains (e.g. apple.app.com and banana.app.com), use a colon and an arbitrary name such as :company.app.com. :company will match a non-empty subdomain, meaning it will not include .. The name after : does not matter and is currently not used for anything.

:company.app.com and :subdomain.app.com are equivalent and will match:

• apple.app.com
• banana.app.com

They will not match:

• app.com (missing subdomain)
• more.apple.app.com (more subdomains)

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Wildcard Domains

You can also use * as a wildcard character to match any number of subdomains.

*.app.com will match both one.app.com and one.two.app.com, but not app.com.

*app.com will match app.com, but will also match myapp.com.

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Path

In a URL, the path is the part that comes after the domain and before either the query parameters (starting with ?) or the fragment (starting with #).

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
                  \_________________/
                           |
                          path

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Basic Rules

1. Paths MUST start with a forward slash /
2. If you omit the leading / (e.g. app/projects), the system will treat app as a domain
3. The correct pattern should be /app/projects

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Dynamic Path Segments

Use :paramName to match dynamic path segments:

// Example: /app/:company/projects
// :company matches any non-empty string without /

✅ Will match:

• /app/apple/projects
• /app/banana/projects

❌ Won’t match:

• /app/projects (missing company segment)
• /app/apple/projects/1 (path too deep)

Tip: Parameter names like :company or :slug are just identifiers - you can name them anything, they don’t affect the matching logic

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Wildcard Matching

Use * to match any path:

1. /app/*

   • ✅ Matches /app/one, /app/one/two
   • ❌ Does not match /app
   • Note: Requires at least one segment after /app/

2. /app*

   • ✅ Matches /app, /applications
   • Note: Matches anything that starts with app

3. /*/projects

   • ✅ Matches /app/projects, /app/one/two/three/projects
   • Note: Matches projects at any depth

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Combining Patterns

You can mix dynamic segments and wildcards in the same pattern:

/*/customers/:customer/invoices/:invoice/*

This pattern will:

• Match any path at the start
• Capture a specific customer
• Capture a specific invoice
• Match any remaining path

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Query

The part that comes after ? and before # in a URL.

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
                                      \___________/
                                            |
                                          query

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Basic Rules

• Query parameters are key-value pairs (e.g. key=value)
• Multiple parameters are separated by &
• Order doesn’t matter
• Extra parameters are ignored
• Parameter values are optional

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Examples

?fruit=apple&tab=analytics will match:

• ?fruit=apple&tab=analytics
• ?tab=analytics&fruit=apple (different order, same result)
• ?other=test&fruit=apple&tab=analytics (extra params ignored)

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Wildcard Matching

1. Match values starting with specific text:

// ?param=a* matches:
- ?param=apple
- ?param=admin
// But won't match:
- ?param=banana (doesn't start with 'a')
- ?param (no value)
- ?param2=apple (wrong parameter name)

2. Match any value:

// ?param=* matches:
- ?param=anything
- ?param (empty value is OK)
// But won't match:
- ?param2=value (wrong parameter)

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Fragment

The part that comes after # in a URL.

https://my.app.com/acme-inc/dashboard?tab=analytics#charts
                                                    \____/
                                                       |
                                                    fragment

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Fragment Patterns

Fragments follow the same rules as paths:

1. Dynamic segments:

#/projects/:project/dashboard

2. Wildcards:

#/projects/:project/dashboard/*

Tip: In single-page applications (SPAs), fragments often act like paths and can be matched using the same patterns