# Using a single expectation across multiple tables

**URL:** <https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/using-a-single-expectation-across-multiple-tables/527>\
**Category:** Archive\
**Tags:** help-wanted\
**Created:** [December 1, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/using-a-single-expectation-across-multiple-tables/527 "2020-12-01T20:09:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![seth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@seth](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/u/seth)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/using-a-single-expectation-across-multiple-tables/527/1 "2020-12-01T20:09:49Z")

</div>

Just getting started with GE and looking for some guidance…

I have a use case for an expectation that a string column should not contain any uppercase characters.  
What would be the best practice or typical workflow for applying this expectation against ~150 specific columns across ~50 tables.

So far I’ve been able to do this on a single column using this pattern, but curious how to efficiently scale this across many different schemas/tables

> ```
> batch.expect_column_values_to_not_match_regex(column = '[my_column]',
> regex = '[A-Z]+')
> 
> ```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eugene.mandel](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.greatexpectations.io/eugene.mandel/32/22_2.png) [@eugene.mandel](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/u/eugene.mandel)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://discourse.greatexpectations.io/t/using-a-single-expectation-across-multiple-tables/527/2 "2020-12-01T21:27:13Z")

</div>

The [0.13.0 release](https://github.com/great-expectations/great_expectations/releases/tag/0.13.0) introduced a feature that addresses this need - Parametrized Expectations. It allows a user to implement a new Expectation by extending an existing one and applying some constraints on its parameters.

In your case it would mean creating a new expectation called something like `expect_column_values_to_not_contain_uppercase_characters` by extending the `expect_column_values_to_not_match_regex` expectation and locking the regex parameter to `'[A-Z]+'`

This how-to guide shows the exact steps: [https://docs.greatexpectations.io/en/latest/guides/how\_to\_guides/creating\_and\_editing\_expectations/how\_to\_create\_parameterized\_expectations\_super\_fast.html](https://docs.greatexpectations.io/en/latest/guides/how_to_guides/creating_and_editing_expectations/how_to_create_parameterized_expectations_super_fast.html)