RegExp javascript match any word

Question

Hey all i have found the following code that finds a word within the page:

function searchAndHighlight(searchTerm, selector) {
    if(searchTerm) {
        //var wholeWordOnly = new RegExp("\\g"+searchTerm+"\\g","ig"); //matches whole word only
        //var anyCharacter = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig"); //matches any word with any of search chars characters
        var selector = selector || "body";                             //use body as selector if none provided
        var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp(searchTerm,"ig");
        var matches = $(selector).text().match(searchTermRegEx);
        if(matches) {
            $('.highlighted').removeClass('highlighted');     //Remove old search highlights
                $(selector).html($(selector).html()
                    .replace(searchTermRegEx, "<span class='highlighted'>"+searchTerm+"</span>"));
            if($('.highlighted:first').length) {             //if match found, scroll to where the first one appears
                $(window).scrollTop($('.highlighted:first').position().top);
            }
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#search-button').on("click",function() {
        if(!searchAndHighlight($('#search-term').val())) {
            alert("No results found");
        }
    });
});

Within the code you can see it has var anyCharacter = new RegExp("\g["+searchTerm+"]\g","ig"); //matches any word with any of search chars characters.

However, when i try using that RegExp like so:

var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig");

it doesnt seem to return any results then even if i type in an exact name.

Any help would be great!

This might help you out stackoverflow.com/questions/9794851/… — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Dec 15, 2013 at 22:27

Michael Mikowski · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-15 22:58:30Z

1

This fiddle works.

Not sure what the original authors were thinking with the \\g stuff.

The key is this regex:

      searchRegex   = new RegExp('(\\b)(' + searchTerm + ')(\\b)','ig');

answered Dec 15, 2013 at 22:58

Michael Mikowski

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5 Comments

StealthRT Over a year ago

Not sure your fiddle works? If you type in ace it says it can not find it.. even though space has ace in it.

StealthRT Over a year ago

Maybe im looking at this the wrong way.. I am looking for a type of wildcard like you would find in a SQL Query %whateverHere%.

Michael Mikowski Over a year ago

Ah, I misunderstood. That solution only finds whole words. Gimme a sec to match partials.... See jsfiddle.net/wmca4/5

StealthRT Over a year ago

i have also noticed that if you searched once and then try searching again it does nothing?

Michael Mikowski Over a year ago

Yes, the fiddle is limited to a single search. I am quite sure it is the same with the original fiddle.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-16 05:35:23Z

0

To match any word, try

/^\b\w+\b$/i

The regexp matches multiple characters between word boundaries

Replace

var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig");

with

var searchTermRegEx = /^\b\w+\b$/i;

The difference is that we are using regex literal than using regex object.

edited Dec 16, 2013 at 5:35

answered Dec 15, 2013 at 22:22

user2672373

3 Comments

elclanrs Over a year ago

Start and end characters plus global flag doesn't make much sense here.

user2672373 Over a year ago

Had a confusion whether or not to include it. Fixed.

StealthRT Over a year ago

@aliasm2k Where would that go in the code in my OP? Can you use that with the code example?

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