Check if string exists in another string (not exactly equal)

Question

I have this 2 strings:

var test = 'BN123';
var behaviour = 'BN***,TA****';

I need to check if behaviour contains a string with the same format as test.

On the behaviour, the BN and TA as to be equal, and the * means it can be any char. (behaviour comes from an API, so I never know what it has, this is just a test.)

In this case it should return true. Right now I'm only comparing is case behaviour as a single string, but I need to modify that:

isValidInput(behaviour, test) {
  if (behaviour.length != test.length) {
    return false;
  }
  for (var i = 0; i < behaviour.length; i++) {
    if (behaviour.charAt(i) == '*') {
      continue;
    }
    if (behaviour.charAt(i) != test.charAt(i)) {
      return false;
    }
  }
  return true;
}

Dude! you can not use 'string' as a variable name. It's a reserved keyword in JS like var, object, class or what have you. — UtkarshPramodGupta
– UtkarshPramodGupta, Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 12:45
@UtkarshPramodGupta it is not. I'd also advise against using "string" as an identifier though. — ASDFGerte
– ASDFGerte, Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 12:46
You need regex. I kind of suck at it but I ended up with ^((TA(\w)*)|(BA(\w)*)). You can try to improve that in regex101.com . Also note that it is way faster to compare to ONE big regex than to compare many times with tiny regex — Zyigh
– Zyigh, Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 12:48

yajiv · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 12:52:11Z

2

You can use .some() of Array.prototype.

like below

function isValidInput(behaviour, string1) {
    if (behaviour.length != string1.length) {
      return false;
    }

    for (var i = 0; i < behaviour.length; i++) {
      if (behaviour.charAt(i) == '*') {
        continue;
      }

      if (behaviour.charAt(i) != string1.charAt(i)) {
        return false;
      }
    }

    return true;
  }
  
var test = 'BN123';
var behaviour = 'BN***,TA****';

console.log(behaviour.split(',').some(x => isValidInput(x,test)));
console.log(behaviour.split(',').some(x => isValidInput(x,"test")));

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 12:52

yajiv

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1 Comment

waze Over a year ago

As I said in another answer, this seems the correct and "easier" way of doing it. I'm accepting this one as I am getting an error on the other one, although I know its correct too :p Thank you so much!

T.J. Crowder · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 12:48:20Z

2

The only issue I see with your implementation is that you're not allowing for the fact behaviour contains possible strings separated with a comma (or at least, that's how it looks to me). So you need to check each of them:

// Check one behaviour string from the list
function isOneValidInput(behaviour, string) {
  if (behaviour.length != string.length) {
    return false;
  }

  for (var i = 0; i < behaviour.length; i++) {
    // Note we can easily combine those conditions, and use []
    // with strings
    if (behaviour[i] != '*' && behaviour[i] != string[i]) {
      return false;
    }
  }

  return true;
}

// Check all behaviour strings in a comma-separated one
function isValidInput(behaviours, string) {
  return behaviours.split(",").some(function(behaviour) {
    return isOneValidInput(behaviour, string);
  });
}

var string = 'BN123';
var behaviour = 'BN***,TA****';
console.log(isValidInput(behaviour, string));

(I stuck to ES5 there because you seemed to be doing so.)

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 12:48

T.J. Crowder

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2 Comments

waze Over a year ago

Thank you! This seems the right way, using some(). Although, I'm getting an error 'isOneValidInput is not a function'. I'm using on react native, if that makes a difference.

T.J. Crowder Over a year ago

@waze - You need to tweak it a bit, the above is standalone, but yours is in a class. Minor tweak.

user10093237 · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 12:48:24Z

0

Is this what you want?

var test = 'BN123';
var behaviour = 'BN***,TA****';

var behaviours = behaviour.split(',');
var result = behaviours.map(b => {
  if (b.length != test.length)
    return false;
  var pattern = b.split('*')[0];
  return pattern === test.substring(0,pattern.length);
}).find(r => r === true) > -1;


console.log(result)

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 12:48

user10093237

Comments

gavgrif · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 12:50:31Z

0

You can use the new .includes() method to see if a string is contained within another. Note that this is case sensitive. I have included two dodgied up behaviours to check the string against.

var string = 'BN123';
var behaviour1 = 'BN123,TA1234';
var behaviour2 = 'BN120,TA1230';

function testStr(behaviour,string) {
 return behaviour.includes(string);
}


console.log(testStr(behaviour1,string)) // gives true
console.log(testStr(behaviour2,string)) // gives false

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 12:50

gavgrif

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Comments

Harun Or Rashid · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 12:57:16Z

0

isValidInput(behaviour, string) {  
    var array = behaviour.split(",");
    var flag = 0;
    for(var i = 0;i< array.length;i++){
        var now = array[i];
        var _flag = 1;
        if (now.length == string.length) {
            for (var j = 0; j < now.length; j++) {
                if (now.charAt(j) == '*') {
                    continue;
                }

                if (now.charAt(j) != string.charAt(j)) {
                   _flag = 0;
                } 
            }
            flag |= _flag;
        }
    } 
    return flag;
}

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 12:57

Harun Or Rashid

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Comments

Slaawwa · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-17 13:01:37Z

0

Try modify your behaviour to RegExp:

function checkFn(testStr) {

    var behaviour = '(BN...)|(TA....)'

    var r = new RegExp('^(' + behaviour + ')$')

    return r.test(testStr)
}

checkFn('BN123') // true
checkFn('BN12') // false
checkFn('BN1234') // false
checkFn('TA1234') // true
checkFn('TA123') // false
checkFn('TA12345') // false

Or use this fn:

function checkFn(testStr) {

    var behaviour = 'BN***,TA****'

    behaviour = behaviour
        .split(',')
        .reduce((r, el) => {
            r.push('(' + el.replace(/\*/g, '.') + ')')
            return r
        }, [])
        .join('|')

    var r = new RegExp('^('+behaviour+')$')

    return r.test(testStr)
}

answered Jul 17, 2018 at 13:01

Slaawwa

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