Note: This feature is currently in beta and is available only to early adopters.

All  Compliance Condition types support three match modes:

• Loose

• Sequential

• Strict

Match mode controls how multiple condition input lines are matched against the source:

Loose mode verifies that all input lines are present somewhere in the source. Their order is ignored, and any content may appear between matching lines in the source.

Sequential mode requires all input lines to appear in the source in the same order as entered. Additional text/lines may appear between them.

Strict mode requires input lines to appear in the same order as entered and consecutively in the source. No additional text or lines may appear between the matching lines.

Reference source:

The compliance condition examples throughout this article are matching against the following device configuration:

hostname R1
!
interface Ethernet1
 description Uplink
 ip address 10.0.0.1/24
 no shutdown
!
interface Ethernet2
 description LAN
 ip address 192.168.1.1/24
 no shutdown
!
interface Loopback0
 description Management Loopback
 ip address 10.255.255.1 255.255.255.255
!
router ospf
 router-id 1.1.1.1
 network 10.0.0.0/24 area 0
!

Note: The Compliance engine can validate MCP automation outputs in addition to device configurations. To validate an automation output, select Source → Mass Config Push Result on the Compliance preset screen. The same condition types and matching principles described in this article apply when evaluating automation output.

"Source contains" condition type:

The following examples demonstrate how the Loose, Sequential, and Strict match modes affect condition evaluation when using the Source contains condition type.

Loose mode

Example Input 1:

 description LAN
hostname R1

Result: Condition successful

Although the order of the input lines differs from the source, both lines are present.

Example Input 2:

hostname R1
 description WAN

Result: Condition failed

The line description WAN does not exist in the source.

Sequential mode

Example Input 3:

interface Ethernet1
 ip address 10.0.0.1/24

Result: Condition successful

Both input lines appear in the source in the correct order. The "description Uplink" line between them is ignored.

Example Input 4:

 ip address 10.0.0.1/24
interface Ethernet1

Result: Condition failed

The input lines appear in the source in reverse order.

Strict mode

Example Input 5:

interface Ethernet1
 description Uplink
 ip address 10.0.0.1/24

Result: Condition successful

All three lines appear consecutively in the source.

Example Input 6:

interface Ethernet1
 ip address 10.0.0.1/24

Result: Condition failed

The source contains the line "description Uplink" between the two input lines. Strict mode therefore fails.

"Source matches regex" condition type:

The same three match modes are available for the Source matches regex condition type. When using this condition type, each input line is treated as a separate regular expression and matched against the source. The selected match mode controls how these regex inputs are matched: whether they can match in any order, must match in the specified order, or must match consecutively.

Loose mode
Example Input 7:

router ospf
hostname R[0-9]+

Result: Condition successful

This verifies that the device follows the R<number> hostname convention and has OSPF enabled. The two matches are independent, so their order does not matter.

Example Input 8:

router ospf
hostname R[A-Z]+

Result: Condition failed

The router ospf line matches the source, but hostname R[A-Z]+ regex does not match hostname R1. Because all input lines must match the source, the condition fails.

Sequential mode
Example Input 9:

router ospf
 network [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/([0-9]+) area [0-9]+

Result: Condition successful

This verifies that an OSPF network statement appears after the "router ospf" command. Other matching lines may appear between the two lines.

Example Input 10:

network [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/([0-9]+) area [0-9]+
router ospf

Result: Condition failed

Both lines in the source, but they appear in the opposite order. Sequential mode therefore fails.

Strict mode
Example Input 11:

interface Loopback[0-9]+
 description Management Loopback
 ip address 10\.255\.255\.[0-9]+ 255\.255\.255\.255

Result: Condition successful

This verifies that a Loopback interface with a variable interface number has the required "Management Loopback" description and uses a /32 address from the 10.255.255.0/24 management subnet.

Example Input 12:

interface Loopback[0-9]+
ip address 10\.255\.255\.[0-9]+ 255\.255\.255\.255

Result: Condition failed

Both lines match in the source, but the description Management Loopback line appears between them. Strict mode requires the matching lines to be consecutive, so the condition fails.

Choosing the right Match mode

Common use cases:

The following are some example scenarios where each match mode is particularly useful: