# Regex type

Learn about the type that represents regular expressions.

Regex, or [regular expressions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression), represents patterns for matching strings of text.

Regular expressions have different variants, each with its own syntax and features. The regex type in CQL is powered by the [PCRE](https://www.pcre.org/) variant, which is widely used and known for its rich feature set and strong performance.

Learn more on how to represent regular expressions in [regex literals](/reference/cql/expressions/literals/regex).