Regex to parse Javascript function call-like syntax

Question

I have the following data posibilities

fnname()
fnname(value)
fnname(value,valueN)

I need a way to parse it with javascript regex to obtain an array

[fnname]
[fnname,value]
[fnname,value,valueN]

Thanks in advance!

Do you need to handle nested function calls as in f(g(h(value))) — Nikola Dimitroff
– Nikola Dimitroff, Commented Aug 24, 2014 at 6:51
@AvinashRaj: I suspect OP showed [ and ] for array representation. — anubhava
– anubhava, Commented Aug 24, 2014 at 6:59
@anubhava yes [] means array representation. sorry if unclear. — rnrneverdies
– rnrneverdies, Commented Aug 24, 2014 at 7:03

Avinash Raj · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24 08:46:42Z

2

You could try matching rather than splitting,

> var re = /[^,()]+/g;
undefined
> var matches=[];
undefined
> while (match = re.exec(val))
... {
... matches.push(match[0]);
... }
5
> console.log(matches);
[ 'fnname', 'value', 'value2', 'value3', 'value4' ]

OR

> matches = val.match(re);
[ 'fnname',
  'value',
  'value2',
  'value3',
  'value4' ]

edited Aug 24, 2014 at 8:46

answered Aug 24, 2014 at 7:09

Avinash Raj

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1 Comment

user663031 Over a year ago

matches = val.match(re) seems simpler than looping.

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24 07:06:01Z

2

This should work for you:

var matches = string.split(/[(),]/g).filter(Boolean);

Regex /[(),]/g is used to split on any of these 3 characters in the character class
filter(Boolean) is used to discard all empty results from resulting array

Examples:

'fnname()'.split(/[(),]/g).filter(Boolean);
//=> ["fnname"]

'fnname(value,value2,value3,value4)'.split(/[(),]/g).filter(Boolean);
//=> ["fnname", "value", "value2", "value3", "value4"]

answered Aug 24, 2014 at 7:06

anubhava

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1 Comment

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

.filter(Boolean) that's something new.

user663031 · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24 08:54:05Z

2

Taking some inspiration from other answers, and depending on the rules for identifiers:

str.match(/\w+/g)

answered Aug 24, 2014 at 8:54

user663031

Comments

Adam Tal · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24 07:01:05Z

1

Use split like so:

var val = "fnname(value,value2,value3,value4)";
var result = val.split(/[\,\(\)]+/);

This will produce:

["fnname", "value", "value2", "value3", "value4", ""]

Notice you need to handle empty entries :) You can do it using Array.filter:

result = result.filter(function(x) { return x != ""; });

edited Aug 24, 2014 at 7:01

answered Aug 24, 2014 at 6:55

Adam Tal

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2 Comments

Braj Over a year ago

an empty value in the last that should not be there?

user663031 Over a year ago

What's the point of escaping the comma or parentheses inside the character set? Also, this matches something like "fname(),()((a)", which seems odd.

user3886234 · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-24 07:22:11Z

1

Here's how you can do it in one line:

"fnname(value,value2,value3,value4)".split(/[\(,\)]/g).slice(0, -1);

Which will evaluate to

["fnname", "value", "value2", "value3", "value4"]

answered Aug 24, 2014 at 7:22

user3886234

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