Javascript Regex Catch Word

Question

I want to catch word in paragraphy. I do not want to use word boundary because of unicode character (şöüİıçğ) problems. So I use a regex like this. I get an error Invalid group. Is there someone who can help?

var paragraphy= "Bu örnek bir metindir <span>bu</span> metin; test amaçlı yazılmıştır.";
var word="metin;";
var regex = new RegExp("([\\s>]|^)("+word+")(?=([\\.\\,\\;\\?\\!](?=[\\s<])|(?<![\\.\\,\\;\\?\\!])[<\\s]|$))", "gi");
console.log(paragraphy.match(regex));

I want to this result: ["metin"]

(?<!...) is a negative lookbehind and JS doesn't support it. — anubhava
– anubhava, Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 14:08
@anubhava I want to this result: ["metin"] so only word non punctuation — ozen
– ozen, Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 14:15
Will (?:[\s>]|^)(metin)(?=[.,;?!]?(?:[<\s]|$)) work for you? — anubhava
– anubhava, Commented Apr 26, 2016 at 14:21

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-26 15:22:39Z

1

You can simplify the boundary check with ([\\s>]|^) group before the word, and (?=[.,;?!\\s<]) lookahead after. Also, since you are using a global flag, and you define capture groups, and you need to access one after matching, you'd better use a RegExp#exec() inside a loop.

Also, if you have some punctuation after it (inside the search word) you should get rid of it first. If it only appears at the end of the word, pre-process it with word = word.replace(/[,.;?!<]+$/, '').

var paragraphy = "Bu örnek bir metindir <span>bu</span> metin; test amaçlı yazılmıştır.";
var word="metin;";
var regex = new RegExp("([\\s>]|^)("+word.replace(/[,.;?!<]+$/, '')+")(?=[.,;?!\\s<])", "gi");
res = paragraphy.replace(regex, '$1<span>metin</span>');
document.body.innerHTML = "<pre>" + res + "</pre>";

span {
  color: #FF0000;
  }

edited Apr 26, 2016 at 15:22

answered Apr 26, 2016 at 14:53

Wiktor Stribiżew

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3 Comments

ozen Over a year ago

must be word="metin;" and result only word this "metin" so not punctuation

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

When you want to search for metin; there is no chance to return just metin. Regexps do not work that way - you must pre-process the pattern before searching.

ozen Over a year ago

I try to do this: paragraphy.replace(regex, 'metin'); and final result: paragraphy= "Bu örnek bir metindir bu metin; test amaçlı yazılmıştır.";

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-26 15:23:24Z

1

Based on discussion above (below your question) you can use this replace:

    var word = "metin";

    var re = new RegExp("(^|[\\s>])(" + word + ")[.,;?!]?(?=[\\s<]|$)", "gi");

    var str = 'Bu örnek bir metindir <span>bu</span> metin; test amaçlı yazılmıştır';
     
    var result = str.replace(re, '$1<span>$2</span>');

    alert(result);

//=> Bu örnek bir metindir <span>bu</span> <span>metin</span> test amaçlı yazılmıştır

RegEx Demo

answered Apr 26, 2016 at 15:23

anubhava

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1 Comment

ozen Over a year ago

Thank you for helps me I guess. I need to reconsider all script @anubhava

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