Javascript regular expression syntax error?

Question

I'm trying to evaluate a test string against a regular expression I build from a string extracted from a hidden input element, the code is as follows

HTML
<input type="hidden" name="reg_2" id="reg_2" value="^\\d{5}$">

JS
var regTest = new RegExp( $('#reg_2').val(), 'g' );
var valid = "12345";
var invalid = "47";
alert(regTest.test(valid));<--Returns false

It keeps evaluating to false, I'm not sure if the syntax is wrong or if there's something else I'm missing. I tried with and without the global flag, and I also confirmed that the jQuery selector is returning the correct value. Any help or insight is welcome. Thank you.

UPDATE

Thank you for the prompt responses. I was following the example on the Mozilla Dev Network which shows a hardcoded string in the RegEx constructor with a double backslash and thought that's what I needed to pass to my script. Thanks again.

Just_Mad · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-13 20:07:43Z

2

Remove one slash in the input value:

<input type="hidden" name="reg_2" id="reg_2" value="^\d{5}$">

answered Mar 13, 2012 at 20:07

Just_Mad

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FishBasketGordo · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-13 20:08:01Z

1

You don't need to escape the backslash. The value of the hidden input should just be "^\d{5}$". Here's a working example.

answered Mar 13, 2012 at 20:08

FishBasketGordo

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