js expression.test(string) - not expected results

Question

Been awhile since I needed to do this and I'm just not seeing what the problem is - maybe I'm just burned out too much right now.

var url = '/some-test.php?t=a-t!est&f=&c=4564646&u=4546&ds=45646&de=1254';

if( /^[a-zA-Z0-9\/\-\.\?\=\&]/i.test(url) ) {
    console.log('true');
} else {
    console.log('false');
}

Why is this passing true with 't!est' in the string?

My goal here is to make sure the string is only comprised of :

a-z
A-Z
0-9
/
-
.
?
=
&
case insensitive

I just want to do a quick and simple validation of url (or anything else) before using it... making sure it is only comprised of the characters I specify.

Philip Wrage · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-28 14:15:46Z

1

You are only matching a single character from your character class. As written, the regex is only matching (successfully) the first / and parsing no further. Add a + or * to the end of character class to match multiple characters in test string. Finally, add $ to the end of the regex to anchor to end of line and ensure matches match the entire line.

/^[a-zA-Z0-9\/\-\.\?\=\&]+$/

Or

/^[a-zA-Z0-9\/\-\.\?\=\&]*$/

edited Apr 28, 2019 at 14:15

answered Apr 28, 2019 at 5:05

Philip Wrage

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2 Comments

user756659 Over a year ago

Yep... tired. I copied the expression over from using url.match(). Thanks.

user756659 Over a year ago

/^[a-z0-9\/\-\.\?\=\&]+$/i.test(url) - $ is needed

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