Regex : Regular Expressions in JavaScript
Regular expressions are a string of characters that are used to validate the contents of
another string. These strings of characters that form the regular expression are stored in an
object. A regular expression consists of two parts. The first part is the pattern, which is followed
by an optional flag.
Syntax:
var regEx = /pattern/flag
Flags are also referred to as modifiers.
Metacharacters for Regex are as follows:
\t – Used to find a tab character.
\v – Used to find a vertical tab character.
\s – Used to find white space characters.
\S – Used to find non-whitespace characters.
\d – Used to find numerical digits.
\D – Used to find non – numeric digits.
\w – Used to find words.
\W – Used to find anything except for words.
. – A dot is used to find a single character other than the newline or end of the line.
\0 – Used to find a null character.
Sets and Ranges of Regular Expressions in JavaScript
[0-9] – All characters from zero through nine.
[A-Z] – All character from A to Z in upper case.
[a-z] – All character from a to z in lower case.
Quantifiers of Regular Expressions in JavaScript
These are denoted with the help of special characters. Each special character has a
meaning associated with it. These characters are used along with regular expressions.
A few of the most used quantifiers are:
* – Matches a string containing zero or more instances.
+ – Matches a string containing one or more instances.
? – Matches a string containing zero or one instance.
{n} – Here, “n” takes in a number. Matches the required regular expression the number of
times mentioned in place of “n”.
$ – Matches the given expression with the end of the string.
^ – Matches the given expression with the beginning of the string.
?= – Matches any string with the regex pattern after the equals sign.
?! – Matches any string that does not contain the regex pattern after the exclamatory sign.
Methods in Regular Expressions and Strings
Commonly used methods in regular expressions are as follows:
match() – It’s a String method that looks for a match in a string. If found returns the
match; if not, then returns null.
matchAll() – It’s a String method that looks for all the matches in a string.
Ex:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<script type="text/javascript">
function check_data()
{
var uname = [Link];
if([Link](/[a-z]{6}/))
{
[Link]="valid userid";
}
else
{
[Link]="Invalid userid";
}
var pwd = [Link];
if([Link](/^(?=.*[0-9])(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*\W)(?!.* ).{8,16}$/))
{
[Link]="valid pwd";
}
else
{
[Link]="Invalid pwd";
}
var ph = [Link];
if([Link](/[0-9]{10}/))
{
[Link]="valid phone";
}
else
{
[Link]="Invalid phone";
}
var email = [Link];
if([Link](/^[a-zA-Z0-9]+@[a-zA-Z0-9]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9]{2,3}$/))
{
[Link]="valid mail";
}
else
{
[Link]="Invalid mail";
}
//dd-mm-yyyy
var dob = [Link];
if([Link](/(^0[1-9]|[1][0-9]|[2][0-9]|3[01])-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])-(\d{4}$)/))
{
[Link]="valid dob";
}
else
{
[Link]="Invalid dob";
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
Name:<input type="text" name="t1" id="t1"> <span id="s1"> </span>
<br><br>
Email:<input type="text" name="t2" id="t2"> <span id="s2"> </span>
<br><br>
Phone:<input type="text" name="t3" id="t3"><span id="s3"> </span>
<br><br>
URL:<input type="text" name="t4" id="t4"><span id="s4"> </span>
<br><br>
PWD:<input type="text" name="t5" id="t5"><span id="s5"> </span>
<br><br>
[Link]:<input type="text" name="t6" id="t6"><span id="s6"> </span>
<br><br>
DOB:<input type="text" name="t7" id="t7"> <span id="s7"> </span>
<br><br>
<input type="button" name="b1" id="b1" value="Check" onclick="check_data()">
</body>
</html>