Matching url with array list of words in AngularJS ui-router

Not fully sure what exactly you are searching for... because it could be a dynamic url matcher or just smart regex. Here is a plunker with working example. It in fact 1) only builds the regex from the passed list of names... 2) shows urlMatcher in action

The answer here would be: use the UrlMatcher.

$urlMatcherFactory and UrlMatchers

Defines the syntax for url patterns and parameter placeholders. This factory service is used behind the scenes by $urlRouterProvider to cache compiled UrlMatcher objects, instead of having to re-parse url patterns on every location change. Most users will not need to use $urlMatcherFactory directly, however it could be useful to craft a UrlMatcher object and pass it as the url to the state config.

Example:

var urlMatcher = $urlMatcherFactory.compile("/home/:id?param1");
$stateProvider.state('myState', {
    url: urlMatcher 
});

The example in plunker:

  var sourceList= ['John', 'Paul', 'George', 'Ringo']
  var names = sourceList.join('|');
  var urlMatcher = $urlMatcherFactory.compile("/{source:(?:" + names + ")}/:id");

  $stateProviderRef 
    .state('names', { 
      url: urlMatcher,
      templateUrl: 'tpl.root.html',
      controller: 'MyCtrl'
    });

The example is showing a bit more complex solution. If we do have the list of names during cofnig phase... the simple join should work. But if it will be availabel later (.run()) via $http ... this solution could help