diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index fcc2ff4..d0111b4 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -13,11 +13,11 @@ inputs:
     required: false
     default: "v"
   major_pattern:
-    description: "A string which, if present in a git commit, indicates that a change represents a major (breaking) change"
+    description: "A string which, if present in a git commit, indicates that a change represents a major (breaking) change. Wrap with '/' to match using a regular expression."
     required: true
     default: "(MAJOR)"
   minor_pattern:
-    description: "A string which, if present in a git commit, indicates that a change represents a minor (feature) change"
+    description: "A string which, if present in a git commit, indicates that a change represents a minor (feature) change. Wrap with '/' to match using a regular expression."
     required: true
     default: "(MINOR)"
   format:
diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index 23c0ac1..783b3ed 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -1113,6 +1113,17 @@ const parseVersion = (tag) => {
   return [major, minor, patch];
 };
 
+const createMatchTest = (pattern) => {
+
+  if (pattern.startsWith('/') && pattern.endsWith('/')) {
+    var regex = new RegExp(pattern.slice(1, -1));
+    return (l) => regex.test(l);
+  } else {
+    return (l) => l.includes(pattern);
+  }
+
+};
+
 async function run() {
   try {
     const remote = await cmd('git', 'remote');
@@ -1120,8 +1131,8 @@ async function run() {
     const remotePrefix = remoteExists ? 'origin/' : '';
 
     const branch = `${remotePrefix}${core.getInput('branch', { required: true })}`;
-    const majorPattern = core.getInput('major_pattern', { required: true });
-    const minorPattern = core.getInput('minor_pattern', { required: true });
+    const majorPattern = createMatchTest(core.getInput('major_pattern', { required: true }));
+    const minorPattern = createMatchTest(core.getInput('minor_pattern', { required: true }));
     const changePath = core.getInput('change_path') || '';
 
     const versionPattern = shortTags ? '*[0-9.]' : '[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+'
@@ -1199,11 +1210,11 @@ async function run() {
       history.forEach(line => {
         if (currentTag) {
           [major, minor, patch] = parseVersion(currentTag);
-        } else if (line.includes(majorPattern)) {
+        } else if (majorPattern(line)) {
           major += 1;
           minor = 0;
           patch = 0;
-        } else if (line.includes(minorPattern)) {
+        } else if (minorPattern(line)) {
           minor += 1;
           patch = 0;
         } else {
@@ -1218,8 +1229,8 @@ async function run() {
     // Discover the change time from the history log by finding the oldest log
     // that could set the version.
 
-    const majorIndex = history.findIndex(x => x.includes(majorPattern));
-    const minorIndex = history.findIndex(x => x.includes(minorPattern));
+    const majorIndex = history.findIndex(x => majorPattern(x));
+    const minorIndex = history.findIndex(x => minorPattern(x));
 
     if (majorIndex !== -1) {
       increment = history.length - (majorIndex + 1);
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 252f0ec..724245d 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -92,6 +92,17 @@ const parseVersion = (tag) => {
   return [major, minor, patch];
 };
 
+const createMatchTest = (pattern) => {
+
+  if (pattern.startsWith('/') && pattern.endsWith('/')) {
+    var regex = new RegExp(pattern.slice(1, -1));
+    return (l) => regex.test(l);
+  } else {
+    return (l) => l.includes(pattern);
+  }
+
+};
+
 async function run() {
   try {
     const remote = await cmd('git', 'remote');
@@ -99,8 +110,8 @@ async function run() {
     const remotePrefix = remoteExists ? 'origin/' : '';
 
     const branch = `${remotePrefix}${core.getInput('branch', { required: true })}`;
-    const majorPattern = core.getInput('major_pattern', { required: true });
-    const minorPattern = core.getInput('minor_pattern', { required: true });
+    const majorPattern = createMatchTest(core.getInput('major_pattern', { required: true }));
+    const minorPattern = createMatchTest(core.getInput('minor_pattern', { required: true }));
     const changePath = core.getInput('change_path') || '';
 
     const versionPattern = shortTags ? '*[0-9.]' : '[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+'
@@ -178,11 +189,11 @@ async function run() {
       history.forEach(line => {
         if (currentTag) {
           [major, minor, patch] = parseVersion(currentTag);
-        } else if (line.includes(majorPattern)) {
+        } else if (majorPattern(line)) {
           major += 1;
           minor = 0;
           patch = 0;
-        } else if (line.includes(minorPattern)) {
+        } else if (minorPattern(line)) {
           minor += 1;
           patch = 0;
         } else {
@@ -197,8 +208,8 @@ async function run() {
     // Discover the change time from the history log by finding the oldest log
     // that could set the version.
 
-    const majorIndex = history.findIndex(x => x.includes(majorPattern));
-    const minorIndex = history.findIndex(x => x.includes(minorPattern));
+    const majorIndex = history.findIndex(x => majorPattern(x));
+    const minorIndex = history.findIndex(x => minorPattern(x));
 
     if (majorIndex !== -1) {
       increment = history.length - (majorIndex + 1);
diff --git a/index.test.js b/index.test.js
index 4ad0519..531120e 100644
--- a/index.test.js
+++ b/index.test.js
@@ -513,5 +513,25 @@ test('Increment not affected by matching tag', () => {
     repo.exec('git tag 1.0.0');
     expect(repo.runAction()).toMatch('Version is 0.0.1+1');
 
+    repo.clean();
+});
+
+test('Regular expressions can be used as major tag', () => {
+    const repo = createTestRepo({ tag_prefix: '', major_pattern: '/S[a-z]+Value/' }); // 0.0.1
+
+    repo.makeCommit('Initial Commit'); // 0.0.1+0
+    repo.makeCommit('Second Commit SomeValue'); // 0.0.1+1
+    expect(repo.runAction()).toMatch('Version is 1.0.0+0');
+
+    repo.clean();
+});
+
+test('Regular expressions can be used as minor tag', () => {
+    const repo = createTestRepo({ tag_prefix: '', minor_pattern: '/S[a-z]+Value/' }); // 0.0.1
+
+    repo.makeCommit('Initial Commit'); // 0.0.1+0
+    repo.makeCommit('Second Commit SomeValue'); // 0.0.1+1
+    expect(repo.runAction()).toMatch('Version is 0.1.0+0');
+
     repo.clean();
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index faffeae..872ccfc 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ it will be given the new version if the build were to be retriggered, for exampl
     # The prefix to use to identify tags
     tag_prefix: "v"
     # A string which, if present in a git commit, indicates that a change represents a
-    # major (breaking) change
+    # major (breaking) change, supports regular expressions wrapped with '/'
     major_pattern: "(MAJOR)"
-    # Same as above except indicating a minor change
+    # Same as above except indicating a minor change, supports regular expressions wrapped with '/'
     minor_pattern: "(MINOR)"
     # A string to determine the format of the version output
     format: "${major}.${minor}.${patch}-prerelease.${increment}"