JavaScript String test with array of RegEx

Question

I have some doubts regarding RegEx in JavaScript as I am not good in RegEx.

I have a String and I want to compare it against some array of RegEx expressions.

First I tried for one RegEx and it's not working. I want to fix that also.

function check(str){
var regEx = new RegEx("(users)\/[\w|\W]*");
var result = regEx.test(str);
if(result){
//do something
}
}

It is not working properly. If I pass users, it doesn't match. If I pass users/ or users/somestring, it is matching.

If I change the RegEx to (usersGroupList)[/\w|\W]*, then it is matching for any string that contains the string users

fdgdsfgguserslist/data

I want to match like if string is either users or it should contain users/something or users/

And also I want the string to compare it with similar regex array.

I want to compare the string str with users, users/something, list, list/something, anothermatch, anothermatch/something. If if it matches any of these expression i want to do something.

How can I do that?

Thanks

Out of interest what is your thinking behind [\w|\W]*? These cancel each other out, so this will in fact match everything, including other /s. If that is what you want then just use .* — Rhumborl
– Rhumborl, Commented Dec 11, 2014 at 10:27

Amit Joki · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-11 10:20:17Z

2

Then, you'll have to make the last group optional. You do that by capturing the /something part in a group and following it with ? which makes the previous token, here the captured group, optional.

var regEx = new RegExp("(users)(\/[\w|\W]*)?");

answered Dec 11, 2014 at 10:20

Amit Joki

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3 Comments

iCode Over a year ago

Cool. It worked for one. How can I do for An Array of expressions? Do I need to loop and create RegEx objects and match??

Alex Gidan Over a year ago

This 1. does not cover array of keys 2. matches spurious beginning of the string (e.g. "fdgdsfgguserslist/data")

Amit Joki Over a year ago

@TGMCians just another one please

Alex Gidan · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-11 10:33:02Z

1

What about making:

the last group optional
starting from beginning of the string

Like this:

var regEx = new RegExp("^(users)(\/[\w|\W]*)?");

Same applies for all the others cases, e.g. for list:

var regEx = new RegExp("^(list)(\/[\w|\W]*)?");

All in One Approach

var regEx = new RegExp("^(users|list|anothermatch)(\/[\w|\W]*)?");

Even More Generic

var keyw = ["users", "list", "anothermatch"];
var keyws = keyw.join("|"); 
var regEx = new RegExp("^("+keyws+")(\/[\w|\W]*)?");

edited Dec 11, 2014 at 10:33

answered Dec 11, 2014 at 10:21

Alex Gidan

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2 Comments

iCode Over a year ago

Can I create array of RegEx expressions and test?

Alex Gidan Over a year ago

You can do all at once listing the keywords in a group with | (or) condition.

Evan Knowles · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-11 10:20:11Z

0

You haven't made the / optional. Try this instead

(users)\/?[\w|\W]*

answered Dec 11, 2014 at 10:20

Evan Knowles

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1 Comment

Rhumborl Over a year ago

this will match usersfhkfhsfd

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