Develop Reference

Possible Extra String Quote Via PHP In Javascript [duplicate]

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()));
}

How to put a variable in my JS regular expression? [duplicate]

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

Apply RegEx replace on all matched values in a CSS stylesheet [duplicate]

I have the following code, which works, but I need to inject some different stuff into the regular expression object (regex2) at runtime. However, text.replace does not seem to like a string object for the regular expression, so how can I make this work?
var regex2 = /\|\d+:\d+/;
document.write("result = " + text.replace(regex2, '') + "<br>");

You can make a regular expression object from a string using the RegExp constructor function:
var regExp = new RegExp(myString); // regex pattern string
text.replace(regExp, '');

Addition to CMS:
The RegExp constructor has an second optional parameter flags
(15.10.4 The RegExp Constructor)
var text = "This is a Test.";
var myRegExp = new RegExp('teST','i');
text.replace(myRegExp,'Example');
// -> "This is a Example."
as Flags you can set
g -> global search (all occurrences)
i -> case insensitive
m -> multiline

var value = "2012-09-10";
value = value.replace(/([0-9]{4})[\/-]([0-9]{2})[\/-]([0-9]{2})/,"$3/$2/$1");
alert(value);
this will show
10/09/2012

you can use eval to,
new RegExp( eval("/"+str+"/i") );
bye...

Javascript Regexp: Replace curly braces [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
regular expression does not work with javascript
(2 answers)
How do I replace all occurrences of a string in JavaScript?
(78 answers)
Closed 7 years ago.
Folks,
I'm trying to replace a huge chunk of string with a multiple occurrences of "${country_id}". I need a Regular expression that can replace the ${country_id}. Here is the code I have:
var iterLiteral = "\$\{"+literal+"\}"
var re = new RegExp(iterLiteral,"g")
var value = value;
return body.replace(re,value)
I get this error:
Evaluator: org.mozilla.javascript.EcmaError: Invalid quantifier }
How can I fix it?
Edit:
String to be replaced: ${country_id}
literal being passed to the function : country_id.
Trying to use what Anubhava said ( using \\ ), the program tries to search for \$\{country_id\} and it doesn't find one.
Edit 2: Why is this a duplicate? the question that was mentioned doesn't talk about escaping.

If you have a set regular expression, you might find it easier to use the // syntax for defining the RegExp:
'foo: ${country_id}, bar: ${country_id}'.replace(/\$\{country_id\}/g, 'baz')
Alternatively, if the string must be constructed, then you need to double escape the slashes for them to be a part of the regular expression, and not seen as escaping characters for the creation of the string itself:
'foo: ${country_id}, bar: ${country_id}'.replace(new RegExp('\\$\\{' + 'country_id' + '\\}', 'g'), 'baz')
Your function would thus be:
function replaceLiteral(body, literal, value) {
var iterLiteral = "\\$\\{" + literal + "\\}";
var re = new RegExp(iterLiteral, "g");
return body.replace(re, value)
}
var result = replaceLiteral('foo: ${country_id}, bar: ${country_id}', 'country_id', 'baz');
console.log(result);
All of these output the same string:
'foo: baz, bar: baz'

Using double slashes ought to work, if your .replace function is correct (meaning that you use the regex as the first argument, not the iterLiteral). If it doesn't, there's something going wrong else where in your code. If that's the case, please provide the whole function you are using.
function fandr(literal, value, el) {
var iterLiteral = "\\$\\{" + literal + "\\}",
re = new RegExp(iterLiteral, "g"),
$el = $(el);
console.log(re);
$el.html(function() {
return $el.html().replace(re, value);
});
}
fandr("country_id", "banana", "span");
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<span>${country_id}</span>

Javascript Regex: How to put a variable inside a regular expression? [duplicate]

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