Develop Reference

How to slice optional arguments in RegEx?

Actually i have the following RegExp expression:
/^(?:(?:\,([A-Za-z]{5}))?)+$/g
So the accepted input should be something like ,IGORA but even ,IGORA,GIANC,LOLLI is valid and i would be able to slice the string to 3 group in this case, in other the group number should be equals to the user input that pass the RegExp test.
i was trying to do something like this in JavaScript but it return only the last value
var str = ',GIANC,IGORA';
var arr = str.match(/^(?:(?:\,([A-Za-z]{5}))?)+$/).slice(1);
alert(arr);
So the output is 'IGORA' while i would it to be 'GIANC' 'IGORA'
Here is another example
/^([A-Z]{5})(?:(?:\,([A-Za-z]{2}))?)+$/g
test of regexp may have at least 5 chart string but it also can have other 5 chart string separated with a comma so from input
IGORA,CIAOA,POPOP
I would have an array of ["IGORA","CIAOA","POPOP"]

You can capture the words in a capturing surrounded by an optional preceding comma or an optional trailing comma.
You can test the regex here: ,?([A-Za-z]+),?
const pattern = /,?([A-Za-z]+),?/gm;
const str = `,IGORA,GIANC,LOLLI`;
let matches = [];
let match;
// Iterate until no match found
while ((m = pattern.exec(str))) {
// The first captured group is the match
matches.push(m[1]);
}
console.log(matches);

There are other ways to do this, but I found that one of the simple ways is by using the replace method, as it can replace all instances that match that regex.
For example:
var regex = /^(?:(?:\,([A-Za-z]{5}))?)+$/g;
var str = ',GIANC,IGORA';
var arr = [];
str.replace(regex, function(match) {
arr[arr.length] = match;
return match;
});
console.log(arr);
Also, in my code snippet you can see that there is an extra coma in each string, you can solve that by changing line 5 to arr[arr.length] = match.replace(/^,/, '').

Is this what you're looking for?
Explanation:
\b word boundary (starting or ending a word)
\w a word ([A-z])
{5} 5 characters of previous
So it matches all 5-character words but not NANANANA
var str = 'IGORA,CIAOA,POPOP,NANANANA';
var arr = str.match(/\b\w{5}\b/g);
console.log(arr); //['IGORA', 'CIAOA', 'POPOP']
If you only wish to select words separated by commas and nothing else, you can test for them like so:
(?<=,\s*|^) preceded by , with any number of trailing space, OR is the first word in list.
(?=,\s*|$) followed by , and any number of trailing spaces OR is last word in list.
In the following code, POPOP and MOMMA are rejected because they are not separated by a comma, and NANANANA fails because it is not 5 character.
var str = 'IGORA, CIAOA, POPOP MOMMA, NANANANA, MEOWI';
var arr = str.match(/(?<=,\s*|^)\b\w{5}\b(?=,\s*|$)/g);
console.log(arr); //['IGORA', 'CIAOA', 'MEOWI']
If you can't have any trailing spaces after the comma, just leave out the \s* from both (?<=,\s*|^) and (?=,\s*|$).

Regex match cookie value and remove hyphens

I'm trying to extract out a group of words from a larger string/cookie that are separated by hyphens. I would like to replace the hyphens with a space and set to a variable. Javascript or jQuery.
As an example, the larger string has a name and value like this within it:
facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store;
(notice the leading "C")
So first, I need to match()/find facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store; with regex. Then break it down to "Conner Department Store"
var cookie = document.cookie;
var facilityValue = cookie.match( REGEX ); ??

var test = "store=874635%7Csomethingelse;facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store;store=874635%7Csomethingelse;";
var test2 = test.replace(/^(.*)facility=([^;]+)(.*)$/, function(matchedString, match1, match2, match3){
return decodeURIComponent(match2);
});
console.log( test2 );
console.log( test2.split('|')[1].replace(/[-]/g, ' ') );

If I understood it correctly, you want to make a phrase by getting all the words between hyphens and disallowing two successive Uppercase letters in a word, so I'd prefer using Regex in that case.
This is a Regex solution, that works dynamically with any cookies in the same format and extract the wanted sentence from it:
var matches = str.match(/([A-Z][a-z]+)-?/g);
console.log(matches.map(function(m) {
return m.replace('-', '');
}).join(" "));
Demo:
var str = "facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store;";
var matches = str.match(/([A-Z][a-z]+)-?/g);
console.log(matches.map(function(m) {
return m.replace('-', '');
}).join(" "));
Explanation:
Use this Regex (/([A-Z][a-z]+)-?/g to match the words between -.
Replace any - occurence in the matched words.
Then just join these matches array with white space.

Ok,
first, you should decode this string as follows:
var str = "facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store;"
var decoded = decodeURIComponent(str);
// decoded = "facility=34222|Conner-Department-Store;"
Then you have multiple possibilities to split up this string.
The easiest way is to use substring()
var solution1 = decoded.substring(decoded.indexOf('|') + 1, decoded.length)
// solution1 = "Conner-Department-Store;"
solution1 = solution1.replace('-', ' ');
// solution1 = "Conner Department Store;"
As you can see, substring(arg1, arg2) returns the string, starting at index arg1 and ending at index arg2. See Full Documentation here
If you want to cut the last ; just set decoded.length - 1 as arg2 in the snippet above.
decoded.substring(decoded.indexOf('|') + 1, decoded.length - 1)
//returns "Conner-Department-Store"
or all above in just one line:
decoded.substring(decoded.indexOf('|') + 1, decoded.length - 1).replace('-', ' ')
If you want still to use a regular Expression to retrieve (perhaps more) data out of the string, you could use something similar to this snippet:
var solution2 = "";
var regEx= /([A-Za-z]*)=([0-9]*)\|(\S[^:\/?#\[\]\#\;\,']*)/;
if (regEx.test(decoded)) {
solution2 = decoded.match(regEx);
/* returns
[0:"facility=34222|Conner-Department-Store",
1:"facility",
2:"34222",
3:"Conner-Department-Store",
index:0,
input:"facility=34222|Conner-Department-Store;"
length:4] */
solution2 = solution2[3].replace('-', ' ');
// "Conner Department Store"
}
I have applied some rules for the regex to work, feel free to modify them according your needs.
facility can be any Word built with alphabetical characters lower and uppercase (no other chars) at any length
= needs to be the char =
34222 can be any number but no other characters
| needs to be the char |
Conner-Department-Store can be any characters except one of the following (reserved delimiters): :/?#[]#;,'
Hope this helps :)
edit: to find only the part
facility=34222%7CConner-Department-Store; just modify the regex to
match facility= instead of ([A-z]*)=:
/(facility)=([0-9]*)\|(\S[^:\/?#\[\]\#\;\,']*)/

You can use cookies.js, a mini framework from MDN (Mozilla Developer Network).
Simply include the cookies.js file in your application, and write:
docCookies.getItem("Connor Department Store");

Separating words with Regex

I am trying to get this result: 'Summer-is-here'. Why does the code below generate extra spaces? (Current result: '-Summer--Is- -Here-').
function spinalCase(str) {
var newA = str.split(/([A-Z][a-z]*)/).join("-");
return newA;
}
spinalCase("SummerIs Here");

You are using a variety of split where the regexp contains a capturing group (inside parentheses), which has a specific meaning, namely to include all the splitting strings in the result. So your result becomes:
["", "Summer", "", "Is", " ", "Here", ""]
Joining that with - gives you the result you see. But you can't just remove the unnecessary capture group from the regexp, because then the split would give you
["", "", " ", ""]
because you are splitting on zero-width strings, due to the * in your regexp. So this doesn't really work.
If you want to use split, try splitting on zero-width or space-only matches looking ahead to a uppercase letter:
> "SummerIs Here".split(/\s*(?=[A-Z])/)
^^^^^^^^^ LOOK-AHEAD
< ["Summer", "Is", "Here"]
Now you can join that to get the result you want, but without the lowercase mapping, which you could do with:
"SummerIs Here" .
split(/\s*(?=[A-Z])/) .
map(function(elt, i) { return i ? elt.toLowerCase() : elt; }) .
join('-')
which gives you want you want.
Using replace as suggested in another answer is also a perfectly viable solution. In terms of best practices, consider the following code from Ember:
var DECAMELIZE_REGEXP = /([a-z\d])([A-Z])/g;
var DASHERIZE_REGEXP = /[ _]/g;
function decamelize(str) {
return str.replace(DECAMELIZE_REGEXP, '$1_$2').toLowerCase();
}
function dasherize(str) {
return decamelize(str).replace(DASHERIZE_REGEXP, '-');
}
First, decamelize puts an underscore _ in between two-character sequences of lower-case letter (or digit) and upper-case letter. Then, dasherize replaces the underscore with a dash. This works perfectly except that it lower-cases the first word in the string. You can sort of combine decamelize and dasherize here with
var SPINALIZE_REGEXP = /([a-z\d])\s*([A-Z])/g;
function spinalCase(str) {
return str.replace(SPINALIZE_REGEXP, '$1-$2').toLowerCase();
}

You want to separate capitalized words, but you are trying to split the string on capitalized words that's why you get those empty strings and spaces.
I think you are looking for this :
var newA = str.match(/[A-Z][a-z]*/g).join("-");

([A-Z][a-z]*) *(?!$|[a-z])
You can simply do a replace by $1-.See demo.
https://regex101.com/r/nL7aZ2/1
var re = /([A-Z][a-z]*) *(?!$|[a-z])/g;
var str = 'SummerIs Here';
var subst = '$1-';
var result = str.replace(re, subst);

var newA = str.split(/ |(?=[A-Z])/).join("-");
You can change the regex like:
/ |(?=[A-Z])/ or /\s*(?=[A-Z])/
Result:
Summer-Is-Here

Why is this regex matching also words within a non-capturing group?

I have this string (notice the multi-line syntax):
var str = ` Number One: Get this
Number Two: And this`;
And I want a regex that returns (with match):
[str, 'Get this', 'And this']
So I tried str.match(/Number (?:One|Two): (.*)/g);, but that's returning:
["Number One: Get this", "Number Two: And this"]
There can be any whitespace/line-breaks before any "Number" word.
Why doesn't it return only what is inside of the capturing group? Am I misundersating something? And how can I achieve the desired result?

Per the MDN documentation for String.match:
If the regular expression includes the g flag, the method returns an Array containing all matched substrings rather than match objects. Captured groups are not returned. If there were no matches, the method returns null.
(emphasis mine).
So, what you want is not possible.
The same page adds:
if you want to obtain capture groups and the global flag is set, you need to use RegExp.exec() instead.
so if you're willing to give on using match, you can write your own function that repeatedly applies the regex, gets the captured substrings, and builds an array.
Or, for your specific case, you could write something like this:
var these = str.split(/(?:^|\n)\s*Number (?:One|Two): /);
these[0] = str;

Replace and store the result in a new string, like this:
var str = ` Number One: Get this
Number Two: And this`;
var output = str.replace(/Number (?:One|Two): (.*)/g, "$1");
console.log(output);
which outputs:
Get this
And this
If you want the match array like you requested, you can try this:
var getMatch = function(string, split, regex) {
var match = string.replace(regex, "$1" + split);
match = match.split(split);
match = match.reverse();
match.push(string);
match = match.reverse();
match.pop();
return match;
}
var str = ` Number One: Get this
Number Two: And this`;
var regex = /Number (?:One|Two): (.*)/g;
var match = getMatch(str, "#!SPLIT!#", regex);
console.log(match);
which displays the array as desired:
[ ' Number One: Get this\n Number Two: And this',
' Get this',
'\n And this' ]
Where split (here #!SPLIT!#) should be a unique string to split the matches. Note that this only works for single groups. For multi groups add a variable indicating the number of groups and add a for loop constructing "$1 $2 $3 $4 ..." + split.

Try
var str = " Number One: Get this\
Number Two: And this";
// `/\w+\s+\w+(?=\s|$)/g` match one or more alphanumeric characters ,
// followed by one or more space characters ,
// followed by one or more alphanumeric characters ,
// if following space or end of input , set `g` flag
// return `res` array `["Get this", "And this"]`
var res = str.match(/\w+\s+\w+(?=\s|$)/g);
document.write(JSON.stringify(res));

Remove leading comma from a string

I have the following string:
",'first string','more','even more'"
I want to transform this into an Array but obviously this is not valid due to the first comma. How can I remove the first comma from my string and make it a valid Array?
I’d like to end up with something like this:
myArray = ['first string','more','even more']

To remove the first character you would use:
var myOriginalString = ",'first string','more','even more'";
var myString = myOriginalString.substring(1);
I'm not sure this will be the result you're looking for though because you will still need to split it to create an array with it. Maybe something like:
var myString = myOriginalString.substring(1);
var myArray = myString.split(',');
Keep in mind, the ' character will be a part of each string in the split here.

In this specific case (there is always a single character at the start you want to remove) you'll want:
str.substring(1)
However, if you want to be able to detect if the comma is there and remove it if it is, then something like:
if (str[0] == ',') {
str = str.substring(1);
}

One-liner
str = str.replace(/^,/, '');
I'll be back.

var s = ",'first string','more','even more'";
var array = s.split(',').slice(1);
That's assuming the string you begin with is in fact a String, like you said, and not an Array of strings.

Assuming the string is called myStr:
// Strip start and end quotation mark and possible initial comma
myStr=myStr.replace(/^,?'/,'').replace(/'$/,'');
// Split stripping quotations
myArray=myStr.split("','");
Note that if a string can be missing in the list without even having its quotation marks present and you want an empty spot in the corresponding location in the array, you'll need to write the splitting manually for a robust solution.

var s = ",'first string','more','even more'";
s.split(/'?,'?/).filter(function(v) { return v; });
Results in:
["first string", "more", "even more'"]
First split with commas possibly surrounded by single quotes,
then filter the non-truthy (empty) parts out.

To turn a string into an array I usually use split()
> var s = ",'first string','more','even more'"
> s.split("','")
[",'first string", "more", "even more'"]
This is almost what you want. Now you just have to strip the first two and the last character:
> s.slice(2, s.length-1)
"first string','more','even more"
> s.slice(2, s.length-2).split("','");
["first string", "more", "even more"]
To extract a substring from a string I usually use slice() but substr() and substring() also do the job.

s=s.substring(1);
I like to keep stuff simple.

You can use directly replace function on javascript with regex or define a help function as in php ltrim(left) and rtrim(right):
1) With replace:
var myArray = ",'first string','more','even more'".replace(/^\s+/, '').split(/'?,?'/);
2) Help functions:
if (!String.prototype.ltrim) String.prototype.ltrim = function() {
return this.replace(/^\s+/, '');
};
if (!String.prototype.rtrim) String.prototype.rtrim = function() {
return this.replace(/\s+$/, '');
};
var myArray = ",'first string','more','even more'".ltrim().split(/'?,?'/).filter(function(el) {return el.length != 0});;
You can do and other things to add parameter to the help function with what you want to replace the char, etc.

this will remove the trailing commas and spaces
var str = ",'first string','more','even more'";
var trim = str.replace(/(^\s*,)|(,\s*$)/g, '');

remove leading or trailing characters:
function trimLeadingTrailing(inputStr, toRemove) {
// use a regex to match toRemove at the start (^)
// and at the end ($) of inputStr
const re = new Regex(`/^${toRemove}|{toRemove}$/`);
return inputStr.replace(re, '');
}