My problem is with the javascript search string function. I'm not able to find the symbol "^" in my string. For example:
string = "2^3";
n = string.search("^");
console.log(n);
With this example it would log i = "0". But the "^" is in "1". This works with any other search than caret ('^').
Can anyone help me fix this?
From MDN
The
search()method executes a search for a match between a regular expression and thisStringobject.
str.search(regexp)
So it expects a regex. ^ is a regex special character. You need to escape it:
n = string.search("\\^");
Or simply use a regex:
n = string.search(/\^/);
it wants a regex. strings without special characters in them look the same as a regex, but that isn't the case when there are special characters.
<script>
string = "2^3";
n = string.search(/\^/);
console.log(n); //1
</script>
As per the String.prototype.search docs, the first parameter passed will be treated as a Regular Expression.
regexp
A regular expression object. If a non-RegExp object obj is passed, it is implicitly converted to a RegExp by using new RegExp(obj).
So, the string you are passing, is converted to a RegExp object and ^ in Regular expression, means that the first character. So, it returns the index of the first character, 0.
You actually have to escape ^ like this \\^
var inputString = "2^3";
var n = inputString.search("\\^");
console.log(n);
Output
1
Why your code doesn't work has already been explained by other answers. Yet the simplest solution is missing: Use .indexOf instead of .search:
var n = inputString.indexOf("^");
