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Table of Contents
REG Matching
Microsoft have issued the following warning with respect to the Registry Editor:
“Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk.”
TapeTrack supports matching against a list of patterns stored in the Windows Registry using the special filter prefix:
*REG:registry_value_name
- Registry key name
This allows a filter field to be compared against multiple patterns defined centrally in the Windows Registry.
REG filtering is functionally similar to LIST filtering, however the patterns are stored in a registry value instead of a file.
How REG Matching Works
When a filter begins with:
*REG:
TapeTrack will:
- open the Windows Registry
- locate the specified value name
- read its contents
- treat the contents as a semicolon-separated list of patterns
- stop as soon as a match is found
Registry Backup
Open regedit and create registry backup by right-clicking the top of the registry tree and selecting Export and saving to an appropriate location.
Registry Location
Registry location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GazillaByte\TapeTrack\Lists
Each registry value under this key represents a reusable filter list.
Example
Example set of Description values for Volumes in TapeMaster:
Production database weekly backup
Prod DB full backup
Prod data backup set
Production export dump
Development database backup
Weekly archive - finance system
Example Registry Value
Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GazillaByte\TapeTrack\Lists
Create a new String Value named:
ProdFilters
With the following data (semicolon-separated):
*prod*;*PRD*;*production*
Using the REG Filter in TapeMaster
To filter the Description field using the registry list:
*REG:ProdFilters
This will match any Description containing:
- prod
- PRD
- production
Expected Matching Results
Using the filter:
*REG:ProdFilters
The following descriptions would typically match:
Production database weekly backup
Prod DB full backup
Production export dump
PRD database BKP
Prod data backup set
The following descriptions would typically not match:
Development database backup
Weekly archive - finance system
Using Wildcards in REG Values
Each entry in the registry value supports standard TapeTrack wildcard matching.
Example registry value data:
*backup*;*archive*;*dump*
This allows a single REG filter to match multiple categories of Description text.
When to Use REG vs LIST
| Method | Storage Location | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|
| LIST | External text file | Shared configuration files |
| REG | Windows Registry | Centralised per-user configuration |
REG filtering is especially useful in environments where:
- administrators want centrally managed filter sets
- users should not modify external files
- reusable filter definitions are required across multiple tools
REG filtering provides a centralized, reusable method of matching a field against multiple wildcard patterns stored in the Windows Registry. It behaves the same as LIST filtering, but stores the pattern list inside:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GazillaByte\TapeTrack\Lists
This makes it ideal for controlled environments where filter rules need to be maintained per user or workstation.