Develop Reference

JavaScript Regex split at first letter?

Since many cases using Regex, differs from case to case, depending on what format your string is in, I'm having a hard time finding a solution to my problem.
I have an array containing strings in the format, as an example:
"XX:XX - XX:XX Algorithm and Data Structures"
Where "XX:XX - XX:XX" is timespan for a lecture, and X being a number.
I'm new to Regex and trying to split the string at the first letter occurring, like so:
let str = "08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures";
let re = //Some regex expression
let result = str.split(re); // Output: ["08:15 - 12:50", "Algorithm and Data Structures"]
I'm thinking it should be something like /[a-Z]/ but I'm not sure at all...
Thanks in advance!

The easiest way is probably to "mark" where you want to split and then split:
const str = '12 34 abcde 45 abcde'.replace(/^([^a-z]+)([a-z])/i, '$1,$2');
// '12 34 ,abcde 45 abcde'
str.split(',')
// [ '12 34 ', 'abcde 45 abcde' ]
This finds the place where the string starts, has a bunch of non a-z characters, then has an a-z characters, and puts a comma right in-between. Then you split by the comma.
You can also split directly with a positive look ahead but it might make the regex a bit less readable.

console.log(
"08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures".split(/ ([A-Za-z].*)/).filter(Boolean)
)
or, if it's really always XX:XX - XX:XX, easier to just do:
const splitTimeAndCourse = (input) => {
return [
input.slice(0, "XX:XX - XX:XX".length),
input.slice("XX:XX - XX:XX".length + 1)
]
}
console.log(splitTimeAndCourse("08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures"))

If you have a fixed length of the string where the time is, you can use this regex for example
(^.{0,13})(.*)
Check this here https://regex101.com/r/ANMHy5/1

I know you asked about regex in particular, but here is a way to this without regex...
Provided your time span is always at the beginning of your string and will always be formatted with white space between the numbers as XX:XX - XX:XX. You could use a function that splits the string at the white space and reconstructs the first three indexed strings into one chunk, the time span, and the last remaining strings into a second chunk, the lecture title. Then return the two chunks as an array.
let str = "08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures";
const splitString = (str) => {
// split the string at the white spaces
const strings = str.split(' ')
// define variables
let lecture = '',
timespan = '';
// loop over the strings
strings.forEach((str, i) => {
// structure the timespan
timespan = `${strings[0]} ${strings[1]} ${strings[2]}`;
// conditional to get the remaining strings and concatenate them into a new string
i > 2 && i < strings.length?lecture += `${str} `: '';
})
// place them into an array and remove white space from end of second string
return [timespan, lecture.trimEnd()]
}
console.log(splitString(str))

For that format, you might also use 2 capture groups instead of using split.
^(\d{1,2}:\d{1,2}\s*-\s*\d{1,2}:\d{1,2})\s+([A-Za-z].*)
The pattern matches:
^ Start of string
(\d{1,2}:\d{1,2}\s*-\s*\d{1,2}:\d{1,2}) Capture group 1, match a timespan like pattern
\s+ Match 1+ whitspac chars
([A-Za-z].*) Capture group 2, start with a char A-Za-z and match the rest of the line.
Regex demo
let str = "08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures";
let regex = /^(\d{1,2}:\d{1,2}\s*-\s*\d{1,2}:\d{1,2})\s+([A-Za-z].*)/;
let [, ...groups] = str.match(regex);
console.log(groups);
Another option using split might be asserting not any chars a-zA-Z to the left from the start of the string using a lookbehind (see this link for the support), match 1+ whitespace chars and asserting a char a-zA-Z to the right.
(?<=^[^a-zA-Z]+)\s+(?=[A-Za-z])
Regex demo
let str = "08:15 - 12:50 Algorithm and Data Structures";
let regex = /(?<=^[^a-zA-Z]+)\s+(?=[A-Za-z])/;
console.log(str.split(regex))

Parse query parameters with regexp

I need to parse the url /domain.com?filter[a.b.c]=value1&filter[a.b.d]=value2
and get 2 groups: 'a.b.c' and 'a.b.d'.
I try to parse with regexp [\?&]filter\[(.+\..+)+\]= but the result is 'a.b.c]=value1&filter[a.b.d'. How can I specify to search for the 1st occurrence?

You may use
/[?&]filter\[([^\].]+\.[^\]]+)]=/g
See the regex demo
Details
[?&] - a ? or &
filter\[ - a filter[ substring
([^\].]+\.[^\]]+) - Capturing group 1:
[^\].]+ - 1 or more chars other than ] and .
\. - a dot
[^\]]+ - 1 or more chars other than ]
]= - a ]= substring
JS demo:
var s = '/domain.com?filter[a.b.c]=value1&filter[a.b.d]=value2';
var rx = /[?&]filter\[([^\].]+\.[^\]]+)]=/g;
var m, res=[];
while(m=rx.exec(s)) {
res.push(m[1]);
}
console.log(res);
Note that in case & is never present as part of the query param value, you may add it to the negated character classes, [^\].]+ => [^\]&.]+, to make sure the regex does not overmatch across param values.
Since you need to extract text inside outer square brackets that may contain consecutive [...] substrings with at least 1 dot inside one of them, you may use a simpler regex with a bit more code:
var strs = ['/domain.com?filter[a.b.c]=value1&filter[a.b.d]=value2',
'/domain.com?filter[a.b.c]=value1&filter[a.b.d]=value2&filter[a][b.e]=value3',
'/domain.com?filter[a.b.c]=value1&filter[b][a.b.d][d]=value2&filter[a][b.e]=value3'];
var rx = /[?&]filter((?:\[[^\][]*])+)=/g;
for (var s of strs) {
var m, res=[];
console.log(s);
while(m=rx.exec(s)) {
if (m[1].indexOf('.') > -1) {
res.push(m[1].substring(1,m[1].length-1));
}
}
console.log(res);
console.log("--- NEXT STRING ----");
}

(?<=[\?&]filter\[)([^\]]+\.[^\]]+)+(?!>\]=)
This will give you only the groups you mentioned (a.b.c and a.b.d)
This part (?<=[\?&]filter\[) says recognise but don't capture [?&]filter before what you want and this part (?!>\]=) says recognise but don't capture after ] after what you want.
[^\]] this captures everything that isn't a square bracket

Replace after char '-' or '/' match

I'm trying to execute regex replace after match char, example 3674802/3 or 637884-ORG
The id can become one of them, in that case, how can I use regex replace to match to remove after the match?
Input var id = 3674802/3 or 637884-ORG;
Expected Output 3674802 or 637884

You could use sbustring method to take part of string only till '/' OR '-':
var input = "3674802/3";
var output = input.substr(0, input.indexOf('/'));
var input = "637884-ORG";
var output = input.substr(0, input.indexOf('-'));
var input = "3674802/3";
if (input.indexOf('/') > -1)
{
input = input.substr(0, input.indexOf('/'));
}
console.log(input);
var input = "637884-ORG";
if (input.indexOf('-') > -1)
{
input = input.substr(0, input.indexOf('-'));
}
console.log(input);

You can use a regex with a lookahead assertion
/(\d+)(?=[/-])/g
var id = "3674802/3"
console.log((id.match(/(\d+)(?=[/-])/g) || []).pop())
id = "637884-ORG"
console.log((id.match(/(\d+)(?=[/-])/g) || []).pop())

You don't need Regex for this. Regex is far more powerful than what you need.
You get away with the String's substring and indexOf methods.
indexOf takes in a character/substring and returns an integer. The integer represents what character position the character/substring starts at.
substring takes in a starting position and ending position, and returns the new string from the start to the end.
If are having trouble getting these to work; then, feel free to ask for more clarification.

You can use the following script:
var str = '3674802/3 or 637884-ORG';
var id = str.replace(/(\d+)[-\/](?:\d+|[A-Z]+)/g, '$1');
Details concerning the regex:
(\d+) - A seuence of digits, the 1st capturing group.
[-\/] - Either a minus or a slash. Because / are regex delimiters,
it must be escaped with a backslash.
(?: - Start of a non-capturing group, a "container" for alternatives.
\d+ - First alternative - a sequence of digits.
| - Alternative separator.
[A-Z]+ - Second alternative - a sequence of letters.
) - End of the non-capturing group.
g - global option.
The expression to replace with: $1 - replace the whole finding with
the first capturing group.

Thanks To everyone who responded to my question, was really helpful to resolve my issue.
Here is My answer that I built:
var str = ['8484683*ORG','7488575/2','647658-ORG'];
for(i=0;i<str.length;i++){
var regRep = /((\/\/[^\/]+)?\/.*)|(\-.*)|(\*.*)/;
var txt = str[i].replace(regRep,"");
console.log(txt);
}

regex to extract numbers starting from second symbol

Sorry for one more to the tons of regexp questions but I can't find anything similar to my needs. I want to output the string which can contain number or letter 'A' as the first symbol and numbers only on other positions. Input is any string, for example:
---INPUT--- -OUTPUT-
A123asdf456 -> A123456
0qw#$56-398 -> 056398
B12376B6f90 -> 12376690
12A12345BCt -> 1212345
What I tried is replace(/[^A\d]/g, '') (I use JS), which almost does the job except the case when there's A in the middle of the string. I tried to use ^ anchor but then the pattern doesn't match other numbers in the string. Not sure what is easier - extract matching characters or remove unmatching.

I think you can do it like this using a negative lookahead and then replace with an empty string.
In an non capturing group (?:, use a negative lookahad (?! to assert that what follows is not the beginning of the string followed by ^A or a digit \d. If that is the case, match any character .
(?:(?!^A|\d).)+
var pattern = /(?:(?!^A|\d).)+/g;
var strings = [
"A123asdf456",
"0qw#$56-398",
"B12376B6f90",
"12A12345BCt"
];
for (var i = 0; i < strings.length; i++) {
console.log(strings[i] + " ==> " + strings[i].replace(pattern, ""));
}

You can match and capture desired and undesired characters within two different sides of an alternation, then replace those undesired with nothing:
^(A)|\D
JS code:
var inputStrings = [
"A-123asdf456",
"A123asdf456",
"0qw#$56-398",
"B12376B6f90",
"12A12345BCt"
];
console.log(
inputStrings.map(v => v.replace(/^(A)|\D/g, "$1"))
);

You can use the following regex : /(^A)?\d+/g
var arr = ['A123asdf456','0qw#$56-398','B12376B6f90','12A12345BCt', 'A-123asdf456'],
result = arr.map(s => s.match(/(^A|\d)/g).join(''));
console.log(result);

Extract word between '=' and '('

I have the following string
234234=AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')
where I need to extract AWORDHERE.
Sometimes there can be space in between.
234234= AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')
Can I do this with a regular expression?
Or should I do it manually by finding indexes?
The datasets are huge, so it's important to do it as fast as possible.

Try this regex:
\d+=\s?(\w+)\(
Check Demo
in Javascript it would like that:
var myString = "234234=AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')";// or 234234= AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')
var myRegexp = /\d+=\s?(\w+)\(/g;
var match = myRegexp.exec(myString);
console.log(match[1]); // AWORDHERE

You could do this at least three ways. You need to benchmark to see what's fastest.
Substring w/ indexes
function extract(from) {
var ixEq = from.indexOf("=");
var ixParen = from.indexOf("(");
return from.substring(ixEq + 1, ixParen);
}
.
Splits
function extract(from) {
var spEq = from.split("=");
var spParen = spEq[1].split("(");
return spParen[0];
}
Regex (demo)
Here is some sample regex you could use
/[^=]+=([^(]+).*/g
This says
[^=]+ - One or more character which is not an =
= - The = itself
( - creates a matching group so you can access your match in code
[^(]+ - One or more character which is not a (
) - closes the matching group
.* - Matches the rest of the line
the /g on the end tells it to perform the match on all lines.

Using look around you can search for string preceded by = and followed by ( as following.
Regex: (?<==)[A-Z ]+(?=\()
Explanation:
(?<==) checks if [A-Z ] is preceded by an =.
[A-Z ]+ matches your pattern.
(?=\() checks if matched pattern is followed by a (.
Regex101 Demo

var str = "234234= AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')";
var regexp = /.*=\s+(\w+)\(.*\)/g;
var match = regexp.exec(str);
alert( match[1] );

I made my solution for this just a little more general than you asked for, but I don't think it takes much more time to execute. I didn't measure. If you need greater efficiency than this provides, comment and I or someone else can help you with that.
Here's what I did, using the command prompt of node:
> var s = "234234= AWORDHERE('sdf.'aa')"
undefined
> var a = s.match(/(\w+)=\s*(\w+)\s*\(.*/)
undefined
> a
[ '234234= AWORDHERE(\'sdf.\'aa\')',
'234234',
'AWORDHERE',
index: 0,
input: '234234= AWORDHERE(\'sdf.\'aa\')' ]
>
As you can see, this matches the number before the = in a[1], and it matches the AWORDHERE name as you requested in a[2]. This will work with any number (including zero) spaces before and/or after the =.