Using exec() to Match a String

Question

I have a string, which I want to extract the value out. The string is something like this:

cdata = "![CDATA[cu1hcmod6rbg3eenmk9p80c484ma9B]]";

And I want cu1hcmod6rbg3eenmk9p80c484ma9B. In other words, I want anything inside the ![[CDATA[*]].

I tried to use the following javascript snippet:

cdata = "![CDATA[cu1hcmod6rbg3eenmk9p80c484ma9B]]";
rePattern =    new RegExp("![?:\\s+]]","m");
arrMatch = rePattern.exec( cdata );
result = arrMatch[0];

But the code is not working, I'm pretty sure that it's the way I how specify the matching string that's causing the problem. Any idea how to fix it?

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:11:50Z

4

Your pattern should be something like...

/^!\[CDATA\[(.+?)\]\]$/

Which is...

Match literal starting ![CDATA[.
Lazy match everything up until the closing ] and save it in capturing group $1 (thanks Phrogz for his excellent suggestion).
Match extra ]].

Your string should be available as arrMatch[1].

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:11

CommunityBot

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answered Jan 5, 2011 at 3:32

alex

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8 Comments

Graviton Over a year ago

I tried something like rePattern = new RegExp("/^!\[CDATA\[([^\]+)\]\]$/","m");, but there is a syntax error.

alex Over a year ago

@Ngu Soon Hui Give me a minute to test it :)

David Tang Over a year ago

@Ngu, that's a regexp literal, you don't put quotes around it: rePattern = /^!\\[CDATA\\[([^\\]+)\\]\\]$/m;

Phrogz Over a year ago

@NguSoonHui You are missing two backslashes in multiple spots. new RegExp("^\\\[CDATA...

David Tang Over a year ago

@Phrogz, oops, thanks. Though to be precise, Ngu's comment ate some backslashes and I simply copied it. Fixed now.

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Chandu · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-05 03:34:31Z

1

Try this:

var cdata = "![CDATA[cu1hcmod6rbg3eenmk9p80c484ma9B]]";
var regPattern =  /(.*CDATA\[)(.*)(\]\].*)/gm;
alert(cdata.replace(regPattern, "$2"));

answered Jan 5, 2011 at 3:34

Chandu

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