I want to add a (variable) tag to values with regex, the pattern works fine with PHP but I have troubles implementing it into JavaScript.
The pattern is (value is the variable):
/(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(value)\b/is
I escaped the backslashes:
var str = $("#div").html();
var regex = "/(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\\/a>))\\b(" + value + ")\\b/is";
$("#div").html(str.replace(regex, "" + value + ""));
But this seem not to be right, I logged the pattern and its exactly what it should be.
Any ideas?
To create the regex from a string, you have to use JavaScript's RegExp object.
If you also want to match/replace more than one time, then you must add the g (global match) flag. Here's an example:
var stringToGoIntoTheRegex = "abc";
var regex = new RegExp("#" + stringToGoIntoTheRegex + "#", "g");
// at this point, the line above is the same as: var regex = /#abc#/g;
var input = "Hello this is #abc# some #abc# stuff.";
var output = input.replace(regex, "!!");
alert(output); // Hello this is !! some !! stuff.
JSFiddle demo here.
In the general case, escape the string before using as regex:
Not every string is a valid regex, though: there are some speciall characters, like ( or [. To work around this issue, simply escape the string before turning it into a regex. A utility function for that goes in the sample below:
function escapeRegExp(stringToGoIntoTheRegex) {
return stringToGoIntoTheRegex.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&');
}
var stringToGoIntoTheRegex = escapeRegExp("abc"); // this is the only change from above
var regex = new RegExp("#" + stringToGoIntoTheRegex + "#", "g");
// at this point, the line above is the same as: var regex = /#abc#/g;
var input = "Hello this is #abc# some #abc# stuff.";
var output = input.replace(regex, "!!");
alert(output); // Hello this is !! some !! stuff.
JSFiddle demo here.
Note: the regex in the question uses the s modifier, which didn't exist at the time of the question, but does exist -- a s (dotall) flag/modifier in JavaScript -- today.
If you are trying to use a variable value in the expression, you must use the RegExp "constructor".
var regex = "(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(" + value + ")\b";
new RegExp(regex, "is")
I found I had to double slash the \b to get it working. For example to remove "1x" words from a string using a variable, I needed to use:
str = "1x";
var regex = new RegExp("\\b"+str+"\\b","g"); // same as inv.replace(/\b1x\b/g, "")
inv=inv.replace(regex, "");
You don't need the " to define a regular expression so just:
var regex = /(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(value)\b/is; // this is valid syntax
If value is a variable and you want a dynamic regular expression then you can't use this notation; use the alternative notation.
String.replace also accepts strings as input, so you can do "fox".replace("fox", "bear");
Alternative:
var regex = new RegExp("/(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(value)\b/", "is");
var regex = new RegExp("/(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(" + value + ")\b/", "is");
var regex = new RegExp("/(?!(?:[^<]+>|[^>]+<\/a>))\b(.*?)\b/", "is");
Keep in mind that if value contains regular expressions characters like (, [ and ? you will need to escape them.
I found this thread useful - so I thought I would add the answer to my own problem.
I wanted to edit a database configuration file (datastax cassandra) from a node application in javascript and for one of the settings in the file I needed to match on a string and then replace the line following it.
This was my solution.
dse_cassandra_yaml='/etc/dse/cassandra/cassandra.yaml'
// a) find the searchString and grab all text on the following line to it
// b) replace all next line text with a newString supplied to function
// note - leaves searchString text untouched
function replaceStringNextLine(file, searchString, newString) {
fs.readFile(file, 'utf-8', function(err, data){
if (err) throw err;
// need to use double escape '\\' when putting regex in strings !
var re = "\\s+(\\-\\s(.*)?)(?:\\s|$)";
var myRegExp = new RegExp(searchString + re, "g");
var match = myRegExp.exec(data);
var replaceThis = match[1];
var writeString = data.replace(replaceThis, newString);
fs.writeFile(file, writeString, 'utf-8', function (err) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(file + ' updated');
});
});
}
searchString = "data_file_directories:"
newString = "- /mnt/cassandra/data"
replaceStringNextLine(dse_cassandra_yaml, searchString, newString );
After running, it will change the existing data directory setting to the new one:
config file before:
data_file_directories:
- /var/lib/cassandra/data
config file after:
data_file_directories:
- /mnt/cassandra/data
Much easier way: use template literals.
var variable = 'foo'
var expression = `.*${variable}.*`
var re = new RegExp(expression, 'g')
re.test('fdjklsffoodjkslfd') // true
re.test('fdjklsfdjkslfd') // false
Using string variable(s) content as part of a more complex composed regex expression (es6|ts)
This example will replace all urls using my-domain.com to my-other-domain (both are variables).
You can do dynamic regexs by combining string values and other regex expressions within a raw string template. Using String.raw will prevent javascript from escaping any character within your string values.
// Strings with some data
const domainStr = 'my-domain.com'
const newDomain = 'my-other-domain.com'
// Make sure your string is regex friendly
// This will replace dots for '\'.
const regexUrl = /\./gm;
const substr = `\\\.`;
const domain = domainStr.replace(regexUrl, substr);
// domain is a regex friendly string: 'my-domain\.com'
console.log('Regex expresion for domain', domain)
// HERE!!! You can 'assemble a complex regex using string pieces.
const re = new RegExp( String.raw `([\'|\"]https:\/\/)(${domain})(\S+[\'|\"])`, 'gm');
// now I'll use the regex expression groups to replace the domain
const domainSubst = `$1${newDomain}$3`;
// const page contains all the html text
const result = page.replace(re, domainSubst);
note: Don't forget to use regex101.com to create, test and export REGEX code.
var string = "Hi welcome to stack overflow"
var toSearch = "stack"
//case insensitive search
var result = string.search(new RegExp(toSearch, "i")) > 0 ? 'Matched' : 'notMatched'
https://jsfiddle.net/9f0mb6Lz/
Hope this helps
Related
I am designing a regular expression tester in HTML and JavaScript. The user will enter a regex, a string, and choose the function they want to test with (e.g. search, match, replace, etc.) via radio button and the program will display the results when that function is run with the specified arguments. Naturally there will be extra text boxes for the extra arguments to replace and such.
My problem is getting the string from the user and turning it into a regular expression. If I say that they don't need to have //'s around the regex they enter, then they can't set flags, like g and i. So they have to have the //'s around the expression, but how can I convert that string to a regex? It can't be a literal since its a string, and I can't pass it to the RegExp constructor since its not a string without the //'s. Is there any other way to make a user input string into a regex? Will I have to parse the string and flags of the regex with the //'s then construct it another way? Should I have them enter a string, and then enter the flags separately?
Use the RegExp object constructor to create a regular expression from a string:
var re = new RegExp("a|b", "i");
// same as
var re = /a|b/i;
var flags = inputstring.replace(/.*\/([gimy]*)$/, '$1');
var pattern = inputstring.replace(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/'+flags+'$'), '$1');
var regex = new RegExp(pattern, flags);
or
var match = inputstring.match(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/([gimy]*)$'));
// sanity check here
var regex = new RegExp(match[1], match[2]);
Here is a one-liner: str.replace(/[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g, '\\$&')
I got it from the escape-string-regexp NPM module.
Trying it out:
escapeStringRegExp.matchOperatorsRe = /[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g;
function escapeStringRegExp(str) {
return str.replace(escapeStringRegExp.matchOperatorsRe, '\\$&');
}
console.log(new RegExp(escapeStringRegExp('example.com')));
// => /example\.com/
Using tagged template literals with flags support:
function str2reg(flags = 'u') {
return (...args) => new RegExp(escapeStringRegExp(evalTemplate(...args))
, flags)
}
function evalTemplate(strings, ...values) {
let i = 0
return strings.reduce((str, string) => `${str}${string}${
i < values.length ? values[i++] : ''}`, '')
}
console.log(str2reg()`example.com`)
// => /example\.com/u
Use the JavaScript RegExp object constructor.
var re = new RegExp("\\w+");
re.test("hello");
You can pass flags as a second string argument to the constructor. See the documentation for details.
In my case the user input somethimes was sorrounded by delimiters and sometimes not. therefore I added another case..
var regParts = inputstring.match(/^\/(.*?)\/([gim]*)$/);
if (regParts) {
// the parsed pattern had delimiters and modifiers. handle them.
var regexp = new RegExp(regParts[1], regParts[2]);
} else {
// we got pattern string without delimiters
var regexp = new RegExp(inputstring);
}
Try using the following function:
const stringToRegex = str => {
// Main regex
const main = str.match(/\/(.+)\/.*/)[1]
// Regex options
const options = str.match(/\/.+\/(.*)/)[1]
// Compiled regex
return new RegExp(main, options)
}
You can use it like so:
"abc".match(stringToRegex("/a/g"))
//=> ["a"]
Here is my one liner function that handles custom delimiters and invalid flags
// One liner
var stringToRegex = (s, m) => (m = s.match(/^([\/~#;%#'])(.*?)\1([gimsuy]*)$/)) ? new RegExp(m[2], m[3].split('').filter((i, p, s) => s.indexOf(i) === p).join('')) : new RegExp(s);
// Readable version
function stringToRegex(str) {
const match = str.match(/^([\/~#;%#'])(.*?)\1([gimsuy]*)$/);
return match ?
new RegExp(
match[2],
match[3]
// Filter redundant flags, to avoid exceptions
.split('')
.filter((char, pos, flagArr) => flagArr.indexOf(char) === pos)
.join('')
)
: new RegExp(str);
}
console.log(stringToRegex('/(foo)?\/bar/i'));
console.log(stringToRegex('#(foo)?\/bar##gi')); //Custom delimiters
console.log(stringToRegex('#(foo)?\/bar##gig')); //Duplicate flags are filtered out
console.log(stringToRegex('/(foo)?\/bar')); // Treated as string
console.log(stringToRegex('gig')); // Treated as string
I suggest you also add separate checkboxes or a textfield for the special flags. That way it is clear that the user does not need to add any //'s. In the case of a replace, provide two textfields. This will make your life a lot easier.
Why? Because otherwise some users will add //'s while other will not. And some will make a syntax error. Then, after you stripped the //'s, you may end up with a syntactically valid regex that is nothing like what the user intended, leading to strange behaviour (from the user's perspective).
This will work also when the string is invalid or does not contain flags etc:
function regExpFromString(q) {
let flags = q.replace(/.*\/([gimuy]*)$/, '$1');
if (flags === q) flags = '';
let pattern = (flags ? q.replace(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/' + flags + '$'), '$1') : q);
try { return new RegExp(pattern, flags); } catch (e) { return null; }
}
console.log(regExpFromString('\\bword\\b'));
console.log(regExpFromString('\/\\bword\\b\/gi'));
Thanks to earlier answers, this blocks serves well as a general purpose solution for applying a configurable string into a RegEx .. for filtering text:
var permittedChars = '^a-z0-9 _,.?!#+<>';
permittedChars = '[' + permittedChars + ']';
var flags = 'gi';
var strFilterRegEx = new RegExp(permittedChars, flags);
log.debug ('strFilterRegEx: ' + strFilterRegEx);
strVal = strVal.replace(strFilterRegEx, '');
// this replaces hard code solt:
// strVal = strVal.replace(/[^a-z0-9 _,.?!#+]/ig, '');
You can ask for flags using checkboxes then do something like this:
var userInput = formInput;
var flags = '';
if(formGlobalCheckboxChecked) flags += 'g';
if(formCaseICheckboxChecked) flags += 'i';
var reg = new RegExp(userInput, flags);
Safer, but not safe. (A version of Function that didn't have access to any other context would be good.)
const regexp = Function('return ' + string)()
I found #Richie Bendall solution very clean. I added few small modifications because it falls appart and throws error (maybe that's what you want) when passing non regex strings.
const stringToRegex = (str) => {
const re = /\/(.+)\/([gim]?)/
const match = str.match(re);
if (match) {
return new RegExp(match[1], match[2])
}
}
Using [gim]? in the pattern will ignore any match[2] value if it's invalid. You can omit the [gim]? pattern if you want an error to be thrown if the regex options is invalid.
I use eval to solve this problem.
For example:
function regex_exec() {
// Important! Like #Samuel Faure mentioned, Eval on user input is a crazy security risk, so before use this method, please take care of the security risk.
var regex = $("#regex").val();
// eval()
var patt = eval(userInput);
$("#result").val(patt.exec($("#textContent").val()));
}
This question already has answers here:
How do you use a variable in a regular expression?
(27 answers)
Closed 2 years ago.
So for example:
function(input){
var testVar = input;
string = ...
string.replace(/ReGeX + testVar + ReGeX/, "replacement")
}
But this is of course not working :)
Is there any way to do this?
const regex = new RegExp(`ReGeX${testVar}ReGeX`);
...
string.replace(regex, "replacement");
Update
Per some of the comments, it's important to note that you may want to escape the variable if there is potential for malicious content (e.g. the variable comes from user input)
ES6 Update
In 2019, this would usually be written using a template string, and the above code has been updated. The original answer was:
var regex = new RegExp("ReGeX" + testVar + "ReGeX");
...
string.replace(regex, "replacement");
You can use the RegExp object:
var regexstring = "whatever";
var regexp = new RegExp(regexstring, "gi");
var str = "whateverTest";
var str2 = str.replace(regexp, "other");
document.write(str2);
Then you can construct regexstring in any way you want.
You can read more about it here.
To build a regular expression from a variable in JavaScript, you'll need to use the RegExp constructor with a string parameter.
function reg(input) {
var flags;
//could be any combination of 'g', 'i', and 'm'
flags = 'g';
return new RegExp('ReGeX' + input + 'ReGeX', flags);
}
of course, this is a very naive example. It assumes that input is has been properly escaped for a regular expression. If you're dealing with user-input, or simply want to make it more convenient to match special characters, you'll need to escape special characters:
function regexEscape(str) {
return str.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&')
}
function reg(input) {
var flags;
//could be any combination of 'g', 'i', and 'm'
flags = 'g';
input = regexEscape(input);
return new RegExp('ReGeX' + input + 'ReGeX', flags);
}
You can create regular expressions in JS in one of two ways:
Using regular expression literal - /ab{2}/g
Using the regular expression constructor - new RegExp("ab{2}", "g") .
Regular expression literals are constant, and can not be used with variables. This could be achieved using the constructor. The stracture of the RegEx constructor is
new RegExp(regularExpressionString, modifiersString)
You can embed variables as part of the regularExpressionString. For example,
var pattern="cd"
var repeats=3
new RegExp(`${pattern}{${repeats}}`, "g")
This will match any appearance of the pattern cdcdcd.
if you're using es6 template literals are an option...
string.replace(new RegExp(`ReGeX${testVar}ReGeX`), "replacement")
You can always give regular expression as string, i.e. "ReGeX" + testVar + "ReGeX". You'll possibly have to escape some characters inside your string (e.g., double quote), but for most cases it's equivalent.
You can also use RegExp constructor to pass flags in (see the docs).
It's only necessary to prepare the string variable first and then convert it to the RegEx.
for example:
You want to add minLength and MaxLength with the variable to RegEx:
function getRegEx() {
const minLength = "5"; // for exapmle: min is 5
const maxLength = "12"; // for exapmle: man is 12
var regEx = "^.{" + minLength + ","+ maxLength +"}$"; // first we make a String variable of our RegEx
regEx = new RegExp(regEx, "g"); // now we convert it to RegEx
return regEx; // In the end, we return the RegEx
}
now if you change value of MaxLength or MinLength, It will change in all RegExs.
Hope to be useful. Also sorry about my English.
Here's an pretty useless function that return values wrapped by specific characters. :)
jsfiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/squadjot/43agwo6x/
function getValsWrappedIn(str,c1,c2){
var rg = new RegExp("(?<=\\"+c1+")(.*?)(?=\\"+c2+")","g");
return str.match(rg);
}
var exampleStr = "Something (5) or some time (19) or maybe a (thingy)";
var results = getValsWrappedIn(exampleStr,"(",")")
// Will return array ["5","19","thingy"]
console.log(results)
accepted answer doesn't work for me and doesn't follow MDN examples
see the 'Description' section in above link
I'd go with the following it's working for me:
let stringThatIsGoingToChange = 'findMe';
let flagsYouWant = 'gi' //simple string with flags
let dynamicRegExp = new RegExp(`${stringThatIsGoingToChange}`, flagsYouWant)
// that makes dynamicRegExp = /findMe/gi
I am designing a regular expression tester in HTML and JavaScript. The user will enter a regex, a string, and choose the function they want to test with (e.g. search, match, replace, etc.) via radio button and the program will display the results when that function is run with the specified arguments. Naturally there will be extra text boxes for the extra arguments to replace and such.
My problem is getting the string from the user and turning it into a regular expression. If I say that they don't need to have //'s around the regex they enter, then they can't set flags, like g and i. So they have to have the //'s around the expression, but how can I convert that string to a regex? It can't be a literal since its a string, and I can't pass it to the RegExp constructor since its not a string without the //'s. Is there any other way to make a user input string into a regex? Will I have to parse the string and flags of the regex with the //'s then construct it another way? Should I have them enter a string, and then enter the flags separately?
Use the RegExp object constructor to create a regular expression from a string:
var re = new RegExp("a|b", "i");
// same as
var re = /a|b/i;
var flags = inputstring.replace(/.*\/([gimy]*)$/, '$1');
var pattern = inputstring.replace(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/'+flags+'$'), '$1');
var regex = new RegExp(pattern, flags);
or
var match = inputstring.match(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/([gimy]*)$'));
// sanity check here
var regex = new RegExp(match[1], match[2]);
Here is a one-liner: str.replace(/[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g, '\\$&')
I got it from the escape-string-regexp NPM module.
Trying it out:
escapeStringRegExp.matchOperatorsRe = /[|\\{}()[\]^$+*?.]/g;
function escapeStringRegExp(str) {
return str.replace(escapeStringRegExp.matchOperatorsRe, '\\$&');
}
console.log(new RegExp(escapeStringRegExp('example.com')));
// => /example\.com/
Using tagged template literals with flags support:
function str2reg(flags = 'u') {
return (...args) => new RegExp(escapeStringRegExp(evalTemplate(...args))
, flags)
}
function evalTemplate(strings, ...values) {
let i = 0
return strings.reduce((str, string) => `${str}${string}${
i < values.length ? values[i++] : ''}`, '')
}
console.log(str2reg()`example.com`)
// => /example\.com/u
Use the JavaScript RegExp object constructor.
var re = new RegExp("\\w+");
re.test("hello");
You can pass flags as a second string argument to the constructor. See the documentation for details.
In my case the user input somethimes was sorrounded by delimiters and sometimes not. therefore I added another case..
var regParts = inputstring.match(/^\/(.*?)\/([gim]*)$/);
if (regParts) {
// the parsed pattern had delimiters and modifiers. handle them.
var regexp = new RegExp(regParts[1], regParts[2]);
} else {
// we got pattern string without delimiters
var regexp = new RegExp(inputstring);
}
Try using the following function:
const stringToRegex = str => {
// Main regex
const main = str.match(/\/(.+)\/.*/)[1]
// Regex options
const options = str.match(/\/.+\/(.*)/)[1]
// Compiled regex
return new RegExp(main, options)
}
You can use it like so:
"abc".match(stringToRegex("/a/g"))
//=> ["a"]
Here is my one liner function that handles custom delimiters and invalid flags
// One liner
var stringToRegex = (s, m) => (m = s.match(/^([\/~#;%#'])(.*?)\1([gimsuy]*)$/)) ? new RegExp(m[2], m[3].split('').filter((i, p, s) => s.indexOf(i) === p).join('')) : new RegExp(s);
// Readable version
function stringToRegex(str) {
const match = str.match(/^([\/~#;%#'])(.*?)\1([gimsuy]*)$/);
return match ?
new RegExp(
match[2],
match[3]
// Filter redundant flags, to avoid exceptions
.split('')
.filter((char, pos, flagArr) => flagArr.indexOf(char) === pos)
.join('')
)
: new RegExp(str);
}
console.log(stringToRegex('/(foo)?\/bar/i'));
console.log(stringToRegex('#(foo)?\/bar##gi')); //Custom delimiters
console.log(stringToRegex('#(foo)?\/bar##gig')); //Duplicate flags are filtered out
console.log(stringToRegex('/(foo)?\/bar')); // Treated as string
console.log(stringToRegex('gig')); // Treated as string
I suggest you also add separate checkboxes or a textfield for the special flags. That way it is clear that the user does not need to add any //'s. In the case of a replace, provide two textfields. This will make your life a lot easier.
Why? Because otherwise some users will add //'s while other will not. And some will make a syntax error. Then, after you stripped the //'s, you may end up with a syntactically valid regex that is nothing like what the user intended, leading to strange behaviour (from the user's perspective).
This will work also when the string is invalid or does not contain flags etc:
function regExpFromString(q) {
let flags = q.replace(/.*\/([gimuy]*)$/, '$1');
if (flags === q) flags = '';
let pattern = (flags ? q.replace(new RegExp('^/(.*?)/' + flags + '$'), '$1') : q);
try { return new RegExp(pattern, flags); } catch (e) { return null; }
}
console.log(regExpFromString('\\bword\\b'));
console.log(regExpFromString('\/\\bword\\b\/gi'));
Thanks to earlier answers, this blocks serves well as a general purpose solution for applying a configurable string into a RegEx .. for filtering text:
var permittedChars = '^a-z0-9 _,.?!#+<>';
permittedChars = '[' + permittedChars + ']';
var flags = 'gi';
var strFilterRegEx = new RegExp(permittedChars, flags);
log.debug ('strFilterRegEx: ' + strFilterRegEx);
strVal = strVal.replace(strFilterRegEx, '');
// this replaces hard code solt:
// strVal = strVal.replace(/[^a-z0-9 _,.?!#+]/ig, '');
You can ask for flags using checkboxes then do something like this:
var userInput = formInput;
var flags = '';
if(formGlobalCheckboxChecked) flags += 'g';
if(formCaseICheckboxChecked) flags += 'i';
var reg = new RegExp(userInput, flags);
Safer, but not safe. (A version of Function that didn't have access to any other context would be good.)
const regexp = Function('return ' + string)()
I found #Richie Bendall solution very clean. I added few small modifications because it falls appart and throws error (maybe that's what you want) when passing non regex strings.
const stringToRegex = (str) => {
const re = /\/(.+)\/([gim]?)/
const match = str.match(re);
if (match) {
return new RegExp(match[1], match[2])
}
}
Using [gim]? in the pattern will ignore any match[2] value if it's invalid. You can omit the [gim]? pattern if you want an error to be thrown if the regex options is invalid.
I use eval to solve this problem.
For example:
function regex_exec() {
// Important! Like #Samuel Faure mentioned, Eval on user input is a crazy security risk, so before use this method, please take care of the security risk.
var regex = $("#regex").val();
// eval()
var patt = eval(userInput);
$("#result").val(patt.exec($("#textContent").val()));
}
I have a string which has some data with a few special characters, Need to remove the data between the desired special char in JavaScript.
The special char would be obtained in a variable.
var desiredChar = "~0~";
And Imagine this to be the Input string:
~0~1|0|20170807|45|111.00|~0~~1~1|0|20170807|50|666.00|~1~~2~1|0|20170807|55|111.00|~2~
So I'm supposed to remove the text in bold.
The desired output is supposed to be-
~1~1|0|20170807|50|666.00|~1~~2~1|0|20170807|55|111.00|~2~
I've tried using "Replace" and "Regex", but as the desired character is being passed in a variable and keeps changing I'm facing difficulties.
You can create your own regex based on whatever the bounding character(s) are that contain the text you want removed, and then replace any text that matches that regex with a blank string "".
The JS below should work for your use case (and it should work for multiple occurrences as well):
var originalText = "~0~1|0|20170807|45|111.00|~0~~1~1|0|20170807|50|666.00|~1~~2~1|0|20170807|55|111.00|~2~";
var desiredChar = "~0~";
var customRegex = new RegExp(desiredChar + ".*?" + desiredChar, "gi");
var processedText = originalText.replace(customRegex, "");
console.log(processedText);
You can build your regex from the constructor with a string input.
var desiredChar = "~0~";
// use the g flag in your regex if you want to remove all substrings between desiredChar
var myRegex = new Regex(desiredChar + ".*" + desiredChar, 'ig');
var testString = "~0~1|0|20170807|45|111.00|~0~~1~1|0|20170807|50|666.00|~1~~2~1|0|20170807|55|111.00|~2~";
testString = testString.replace(myRegex, "");
Given input string you can use .indexOf(), .lastIndexOf() and .slice().
Note, OR character | passed to RegExp constructor should be escaped to avoid RegExp created by passing string interpreting | character as OR | within resulting RegExp passed to .replace().
var desiredChar = "~0~";
var str = "~0~1|0|20170807|45|111.00|~0~~1~1|0|20170807|50|666.00|~1~~2~1|0|20170807|55|111.00|~2~";
var not = str.slice(str.indexOf(desiredChar), str.lastIndexOf(desiredChar) + desiredChar.length);
// escape OR `|`
var res = str.replace(new RegExp(not.replace(/[|]/g, "\\|")), "");
console.log(res)
You can use the RegExp object:
var regexstring = "whatever";
var regexp = new RegExp(regexstring, "gi");
var str = "whateverTest";
var str2 = str.replace(regexp, "other");
document.write(str2);
Then you can construct regexstring in any way you want.
You can read more about it at http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascript.html
I'm trying to write a "suggestion search box" and I cannot find a solution that allows to highlight a substring with javascript keeping the original case.
For example if I search for "ca" I search server side in a case insensitive mode and I have the following results:
Calculator
calendar
ESCAPE
I would like to view the search string in all the previous words, so the result should be:
Calculator
calendar
ESCAPE
I tried with the following code:
var reg = new RegExp(querystr, 'gi');
var final_str = 'foo ' + result.replace(reg, '<b>'+querystr+'</b>');
$('#'+id).html(final_str);
But obviously in this way I loose the original case!
Is there a way to solve this problem?
Use a function for the second argument for .replace() that returns the actual matched string with the concatenated tags.
Try it out: http://jsfiddle.net/4sGLL/
reg = new RegExp(querystr, 'gi');
// The str parameter references the matched string
// --------------------------------------v
final_str = 'foo ' + result.replace(reg, function(str) {return '<b>'+str+'</b>'});
$('#' + id).html(final_str);
JSFiddle Example with Input: https://jsfiddle.net/pawmbude/
ES6 version
const highlight = (needle, haystack) =>
haystack.replace(
new RegExp(needle, 'gi'),
(str) => `<strong>${str}</strong>`
);
nice results with
function str_highlight_text(string, str_to_highlight){
var reg = new RegExp(str_to_highlight, 'gi');
return string.replace(reg, function(str) {return '<span style="background-color:#ffbf00;color:#fff;"><b>'+str+'</b></span>'});
}
and easier to remember...
thx to user113716: https://stackoverflow.com/a/3294644/2065594
While the other answers so far seem simple, they can't be really used in many real world cases as they don't handle proper text HTML escaping and RegExp escaping. If you want to highlight every possible snippet, while escaping the text properly, a function like that would return all elements you should add to your suggestions box:
function highlightLabel(label, term) {
if (!term) return [ document.createTextNode(label) ]
const regex = new RegExp(term.replace(/[\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&'), 'gi')
const result = []
let left, match, right = label
while (match = right.match(regex)) {
const m = match[0], hl = document.createElement('b'), i = match.index
hl.innerText = m
left = right.slice(0, i)
right = right.slice(i + m.length)
result.push(document.createTextNode(left), hl)
if (!right.length) return result
}
result.push(document.createTextNode(right))
return result
}
string.replace fails in the general case. If you use .innerHTML, replace can replace matches in tags (like a tags). If you use .innerText or .textContent, it will remove any tags there were previously in the html. More than that, in both cases it damages your html if you want to remove the highlighting.
The true answer is mark.js (https://markjs.io/). I just found this - it is what I have been searching for for such a long time. It does just what you want it to.
I do the exact same thing.
You need to make a copy.
I store in the db a copy of the real string, in all lower case.
Then I search using a lower case version of the query string or do a case insensitive regexp.
Then use the resulting found start index in the main string, plus the length of the query string, to highlight the query string within the result.
You can not use the query string in the result since its case is not determinate. You need to highlight a portion of the original string.
.match() performs case insensitive matching and returns an array of the matches with case intact.
var matches = str.match(queryString),
startHere = 0,
nextMatch,
resultStr ='',
qLength = queryString.length;
for (var match in matches) {
nextMatch = str.substr(startHere).indexOf(match);
resultStr = resultStr + str.substr(startHere, nextMatch) + '<b>' + match + '</b>';
startHere = nextMatch + qLength;
}
I have found a easiest way to achieve it. JavaScript regular expression remembers the string it matched. This feature can be used here.
I have modified the code a bit.
reg = new RegExp("("+querystr.trim()+")", 'gi');
final_str = 'foo ' + result.replace(reg, "<b>&1</b>");
$('#'+id).html(final_str);
Highlight search term and anchoring to first occurence - Start
function highlightSearchText(searchText) {
var innerHTML = document.documentElement.innerHTML;
var replaceString = '<mark>'+searchText+'</mark>';
var newInnerHtml = this.replaceAll(innerHTML, searchText, replaceString);
document.documentElement.innerHTML = newInnerHtml;
var elmnt = document.documentElement.getElementsByTagName('mark')[0]
elmnt.scrollIntoView();
}
function replaceAll(str, querystr, replace) {
var reg = new RegExp(querystr, 'gi');
var final_str = str.replace(reg, function(str) {return '<mark>'+str+'</mark>'});
return final_str
}
Highlight search term and anchoring to first occurence - End