Using regex without creating a regex object - JavaScript

Question

I have the following code that checks a URL if it contains a certain pattern:

var url = "https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=regex%20javascript";
var patt = new RegExp('https?:\/\/[^/]+\.google\.[a-z.]+\/((search[?#])|(webhp[?#])|([?#])).*q=');
var check = patt.test(url);
alert(check);

The above regex won't work without using new RegExp(). How do I use the same regex without creating the regex object. For example, something like this (which doesn't seem to work):

var url = "https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=regex%20javascript";
var check = ('https?:\/\/[^/]+\.google\.[a-z.]+\/((search[?#])|(webhp[?#])|([?#])).*q=').test(url);
alert(check);

What makes you think you can do it without creating a regex object? And why do you want to do that? — Tomalak
– Tomalak, Commented Jul 31, 2016 at 11:36

DAXaholic · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-31 11:37:12Z

1

Do you mean a regex literal like so

var check = /https?:\/\/[^/]+\.google\.[a-z.]+\/((search[?#])|(webhp[?#])|([?#])).*q=/.test(url)

this is however merely syntactic sugar and does not free you of creating actual RegEx objects

edited Jul 31, 2016 at 11:37

answered Jul 31, 2016 at 11:36

DAXaholic

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3 Comments

Tomalak Over a year ago

That's a regex object as well.

DAXaholic Over a year ago

I know but maybe that is what the questioner meant - I could not imagine any other meaning :) Of course my guess could be wrong

Tomalak Over a year ago

Yeah that's why it would be interesting if the OP would answer the question in my comment. :)

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