Regular expressions are patterns used to match character combinations in strings. In JavaScript, regular expressions are also objects. These patterns are used with the
exec()
and
test()
methods of
RegExp
, and with the
match()
,
matchAll()
,
replace()
,
replaceAll()
,
search()
,和
split()
methods of
String
. This chapter describes JavaScript regular expressions.
You construct a regular expression in one of two ways:
Using a regular expression literal, which consists of a pattern enclosed between slashes, as follows:
let re = /ab+c/;
Regular expression literals provide compilation of the regular expression when the script is loaded. If the regular expression remains constant, using this can improve performance.
Or calling the constructor function of the
RegExp
object, as follows:
let re = new RegExp('ab+c');
Using the constructor function provides runtime compilation of the regular expression. Use the constructor function when you know the regular expression pattern will be changing, or you don't know the pattern and are getting it from another source, such as user input.
A regular expression pattern is composed of simple characters, such as
/abc/
, or a combination of simple and special characters, such as
/ab*c/
or
/Chapter (\d+)\.\d*/
. The last example includes parentheses, which are used as a memory device. The match made with this part of the pattern is remembered for later use, as described in
Using groups
.
注意: If you are already familiar with the forms of a regular expression, you may also read the cheatsheet for a quick lookup for a specific pattern/construct.
Simple patterns are constructed of characters for which you want to find a direct match. For example, the pattern
/abc/
matches character combinations in strings only when the exact sequence
"abc"
occurs (all characters together and in that order). Such a match would succeed in the strings
"Hi, do you know your abc's?"
and
"The latest airplane designs evolved from slabcraft."
In both cases the match is with the substring
"abc"
. There is no match in the string
"Grab crab"
because while it contains the substring
"ab c"
, it does not contain the exact substring
"abc"
.
When the search for a match requires something more than a direct match, such as finding one or more b's, or finding white space, you can include special characters in the pattern. For example, to match
a single
"a"
followed by zero or more
"b"
s followed by
"c"
, you'd use the pattern
/ab*c/
: the
*
after
"b"
means "0 or more occurrences of the preceding item." In the string
"cbbabbbbcdebc"
, this pattern will match the substring
"abbbbc"
.
The following pages provide lists of the different special characters that fit into each category, along with descriptions and examples.
Assertions include boundaries, which indicate the beginnings and endings of lines and words, and other patterns indicating in some way that a match is possible (including look-ahead, look-behind, and conditional expressions).
Distinguish different types of characters. For example, distinguishing between letters and digits.
Indicate groups and ranges of expression characters.
Indicate numbers of characters or expressions to match.
Distinguish based on unicode character properties, for example, upper- and lower-case letters, math symbols, and punctuation.
If you want to look at all the special characters that can be used in regular expressions in a single table, see the following:
| 字符/构造 | Corresponding article |
|---|---|
\
,
.
,
\cX
,
\d
,
\D
,
\f
,
\n
,
\r
,
\s
,
\S
,
\t
,
\v
,
\w
,
\W
,
\0
,
\xhh
,
\uhhhh
,
\uhhhhh
,
[\b]
|
字符类 |
^
,
$
,
x(?=y)
,
x(?!y)
,
(?<=y)x
,
(?<!y)x
,
\b
,
\B
|
断言 |
(x)
,
(?:x)
,
(?<Name>x)
,
x|y
,
[xyz]
,
[^xyz]
,
\
Number
|
Groups and ranges |
*
,
+
,
?
,
x{
n
}
,
x{
n
,}
,
x{
n
,
m
}
|
量词 |
\p{
UnicodeProperty
}
,
\P{
UnicodeProperty
}
|
Unicode 特性转义 |
注意: A larger cheatsheet is also available (only aggregating parts of those individual articles).
If you need to use any of the special characters literally (actually searching for a
"*"
, for instance), you must escape it by putting a backslash in front of it. For instance, to search for
"a"
followed by
"*"
followed by
"b"
, you'd use
/a\*b/
— the backslash "escapes" the
"*"
, making it literal instead of special.
Similarly, if you're writing a regular expression literal and need to match a slash ("/"), you need to escape that (otherwise, it terminates the pattern). For instance, to search for the string "/example/" followed by one or more alphabetic characters, you'd use
/\/example\/[a-z]+/i
—the backslashes before each slash make them literal.
To match a literal backslash, you need to escape the backslash. For instance, to match the string "C:\" where "C" can be any letter, you'd use
/[A-Z]:\\/
— the first backslash escapes the one after it, so the expression searches for a single literal backslash.
If using the
RegExp
constructor with a string literal, remember that the backslash is an escape in string literals, so to use it in the regular expression, you need to escape it at the string literal level.
/a\*b/
and
new RegExp("a\\*b")
create the same expression, which searches for "a" followed by a literal "*" followed by "b".
If escape strings are not already part of your pattern you can add them using
String.replace
:
function escapeRegExp(string) {
return string.replace(/[.*+\-?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&'); // $& means the whole matched string
}
The "g" after the regular expression is an option or flag that performs a global search, looking in the whole string and returning all matches. It is explained in detail below in Advanced Searching With Flags .
Why isn't this built into JavaScript? There is a proposal to add such a function to RegExp, but it was rejected by TC39.
Parentheses around any part of the regular expression pattern causes that part of the matched substring to be remembered. Once remembered, the substring can be recalled for other use. See Groups and ranges 了解更多细节。
Regular expressions are used with the
RegExp
methods
test()
and
exec()
and with the
String
methods
match()
,
replace()
,
search()
,和
split()
. These methods are explained in detail in the
JavaScript 参考
.
| Method | 描述 |
|---|---|
exec()
|
Executes a search for a match in a string. It returns an array of information or
null
on a mismatch.
|
test()
|
Tests for a match in a string. It returns
true
or
false
.
|
match()
|
Returns an array containing all of the matches, including capturing groups, or
null
if no match is found.
|
matchAll()
|
Returns an iterator containing all of the matches, including capturing groups. |
search()
|
Tests for a match in a string. It returns the index of the match, or
-1
if the search fails.
|
replace()
|
Executes a search for a match in a string, and replaces the matched substring with a replacement substring. |
replaceAll()
|
Executes a search for all matches in a string, and replaces the matched substrings with a replacement substring. |
split()
|
Uses a regular expression or a fixed string to break a string into an array of substrings. |
When you want to know whether a pattern is found in a string, use the
test()
or
search()
methods; for more information (but slower execution) use the
exec()
or
match()
methods. If you use
exec()
or
match()
and if the match succeeds, these methods return an array and update properties of the associated regular expression object and also of the predefined regular expression object,
RegExp
. If the match fails, the
exec()
method returns
null
(which coerces to
false
).
In the following example, the script uses the
exec()
method to find a match in a string.
var myRe = /d(b+)d/g;
var myArray = myRe.exec('cdbbdbsbz');
If you do not need to access the properties of the regular expression, an alternative way of creating
myArray
is with this script:
var myArray = /d(b+)d/g.exec('cdbbdbsbz');
// similar to "cdbbdbsbz".match(/d(b+)d/g); however,
// "cdbbdbsbz".match(/d(b+)d/g) outputs Array [ "dbbd" ], while
// /d(b+)d/g.exec('cdbbdbsbz') outputs Array [ 'dbbd', 'bb', index: 1, input: 'cdbbdbsbz' ].
(见 different behaviors for further info about the different behaviors.)
If you want to construct the regular expression from a string, yet another alternative is this script:
var myRe = new RegExp('d(b+)d', 'g');
var myArray = myRe.exec('cdbbdbsbz');
With these scripts, the match succeeds and returns the array and updates the properties shown in the following table.
| Object | Property or index | 描述 | In this example |
|---|---|---|---|
myArray
|
The matched string and all remembered substrings. |
['dbbd', 'bb', index: 1, input: 'cdbbdbsbz']
|
|
index
|
The 0-based index of the match in the input string. |
1
|
|
input
|
The original string. |
'cdbbdbsbz'
|
|
[0]
|
The last matched characters. |
'dbbd'
|
|
myRe
|
lastIndex
|
The index at which to start the next match. (This property is set only if the regular expression uses the g option, described in Advanced Searching With Flags .) |
5
|
source
|
The text of the pattern. Updated at the time that the regular expression is created, not executed. |
'd(b+)d'
|
As shown in the second form of this example, you can use a regular expression created with an object initializer without assigning it to a variable. If you do, however, every occurrence is a new regular expression. For this reason, if you use this form without assigning it to a variable, you cannot subsequently access the properties of that regular expression. For example, assume you have this script:
var myRe = /d(b+)d/g;
var myArray = myRe.exec('cdbbdbsbz');
console.log('The value of lastIndex is ' + myRe.lastIndex);
// "The value of lastIndex is 5"
However, if you have this script:
var myArray = /d(b+)d/g.exec('cdbbdbsbz');
console.log('The value of lastIndex is ' + /d(b+)d/g.lastIndex);
// "The value of lastIndex is 0"
The occurrences of
/d(b+)d/g
in the two statements are different regular expression objects and hence have different values for their
lastIndex
property. If you need to access the properties of a regular expression created with an object initializer, you should first assign it to a variable.
Regular expressions have six optional flags that allow for functionality like global and case insensitive searching. These flags can be used separately or together in any order, and are included as part of the regular expression.
| Flag | 描述 | Corresponding property |
|---|---|---|
g
|
Global search. |
RegExp.prototype.global
|
i
|
Case-insensitive search. |
RegExp.prototype.ignoreCase
|
m
|
Multi-line search. |
RegExp.prototype.multiline
|
s
|
Allows
.
to match newline characters.
|
RegExp.prototype.dotAll
|
u
|
"unicode"; treat a pattern as a sequence of unicode code points. |
RegExp.prototype.unicode
|
y
|
Perform a "sticky" search that matches starting at the current position in the target string. See
sticky
.
|
RegExp.prototype.sticky
|
To include a flag with the regular expression, use this syntax:
var re = /pattern/flags;
or
var re = new RegExp('pattern', 'flags');
Note that the flags are an integral part of a regular expression. They cannot be added or removed later.
例如,
re = /\w+\s/g
creates a regular expression that looks for one or more characters followed by a space, and it looks for this combination throughout the string.
var re = /\w+\s/g; var str = 'fee fi fo fum'; var myArray = str.match(re); console.log(myArray); // ["fee ", "fi ", "fo "]
You could replace the line:
var re = /\w+\s/g;
with:
var re = new RegExp('\\w+\\s', 'g');
and get the same result.
The behavior associated with the
g
flag is different when the
.exec()
method is used. The roles of "class" and "argument" get reversed: In the case of
.match()
, the string class (or data type) owns the method and the regular expression is just an argument, while in the case of
.exec()
, it is the regular expression that owns the method, with the string being the argument. Contrast this
str.match(re)
versus
re.exec(str)
. The
g
flag is used with the
.exec()
method to get iterative progression.
var xArray; while(xArray = re.exec(str)) console.log(xArray); // produces: // ["fee ", index: 0, input: "fee fi fo fum"] // ["fi ", index: 4, input: "fee fi fo fum"] // ["fo ", index: 7, input: "fee fi fo fum"]
m
flag is used to specify that a multiline input string should be treated as multiple lines. If the
m
flag is used,
^
and
$
match at the start or end of any line within the input string instead of the start or end of the entire string.
注意: Several examples are also available in:
exec()
,
test()
,
match()
,
matchAll()
,
search()
,
replace()
,
split()
In the following example, the user is expected to enter a phone number. When the user presses the "Check" button, the script checks the validity of the number. If the number is valid (matches the character sequence specified by the regular expression), the script shows a message thanking the user and confirming the number. If the number is invalid, the script informs the user that the phone number is not valid.
Within non-capturing parentheses
(?:
, the regular expression looks for three numeric characters
\d{3}
OR
|
a left parenthesis
\(
followed by three digits
\d{3}
, followed by a close parenthesis
\)
, (end non-capturing parenthesis
)
), followed by one dash, forward slash, or decimal point and when found, remember the character
([-\/\.])
, followed by three digits
\d{3}
, followed by the remembered match of a dash, forward slash, or decimal point
\1
, followed by four digits
\d{4}
.
Change
event activated when the user presses
Enter
sets the value of
RegExp.input
.
<p>
Enter your phone number (with area code) and then click "Check".
<br>
The expected format is like ###-###-####.
</p>
<form action="#">
<input id="phone">
<button onclick="testInfo(document.getElementById('phone'));">Check</button>
</form>
var re = /(?:\d{3}|\(\d{3}\))([-\/\.])\d{3}\1\d{4}/;
function testInfo(phoneInput) {
var OK = re.exec(phoneInput.value);
if (!OK) {
console.error(phoneInput.value + ' isn\'t a phone number with area code!');
} else {
console.log('Thanks, your phone number is ' + OK[0]);}
}
An online tool to learn, build, & test Regular Expressions.
An online regex builder/debugger
An online visual regex tester.
| 规范 |
|---|
|
ECMAScript (ECMA-262)
The definition of 'RegExp' in that specification. |
| Desktop | Mobile | Server | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RegExp
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp()
构造函数
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
compile
弃用
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 6 | Safari 3.1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 2 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
dotAll
|
Chrome 62 | Edge 79 | Firefox 78 | IE No | Opera 49 | Safari 12 | WebView Android 62 | Chrome Android 62 | Firefox Android No | Opera Android 46 | Safari iOS 12 | Samsung Internet Android 8.0 |
nodejs
8.10.0
|
exec
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
flags
|
Chrome 49 | Edge 79 | Firefox 37 | IE No | Opera 39 | Safari 9 | WebView Android 49 | Chrome Android 49 | Firefox Android 37 | Opera Android 41 | Safari iOS 9 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 6.0.0 |
global
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
ignoreCase
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp.input
(
$_
)
非标
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 15 | Safari 3 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 14 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
lastIndex
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp.lastMatch
(
$&
)
非标
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 10.5 | Safari 3 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 11 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp.lastParen
(
$+
)
非标
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 10.5 | Safari 3 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 11 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp.leftContext
(
$`
)
非标
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 8 | Safari 3 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
lookbehind assertions (
(?<= )
and
(?<! )
)
|
Chrome 62 | Edge 79 | Firefox 78 | IE No | Opera 49 | Safari No | WebView Android 62 | Chrome Android 62 |
Firefox Android
No
|
Opera Android 46 | Safari iOS No | Samsung Internet Android 8.0 | nodejs 8.10.0 |
multiline
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
RegExp.$1-$9
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
| Named capture groups | Chrome 64 | Edge 79 | Firefox 78 | IE No | Opera 51 | Safari 11.1 | WebView Android 64 | Chrome Android 64 | Firefox Android No | Opera Android 47 | Safari iOS 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android 9.0 |
nodejs
10.0.0
|
Unicode property escapes (
\p{...}
)
|
Chrome 64 | Edge 79 | Firefox 78 | IE No | Opera 51 | Safari 11.1 | WebView Android 64 | Chrome Android 64 | Firefox Android No | Opera Android 47 | Safari iOS 11.3 | Samsung Internet Android 9.0 |
nodejs
10.0.0
|
RegExp.rightContext
(
$'
)
非标
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 5.5 | Opera 8 | Safari 3 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
source
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
sticky
|
Chrome 49 | Edge 13 | Firefox 3 | IE No | Opera 36 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 49 | Chrome Android 49 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 36 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs Yes |
test
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
toSource
非标
|
Chrome No | Edge No |
Firefox
1 — 74
|
IE No | Opera No | Safari No | WebView Android No | Chrome Android No | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android No | Safari iOS No | Samsung Internet Android No | nodejs No |
toString
|
Chrome 1 | Edge 12 | Firefox 1 | IE 4 | Opera 5 | Safari 1 | WebView Android 1 | Chrome Android 18 | Firefox Android 4 | Opera Android 10.1 | Safari iOS 1 | Samsung Internet Android 1.0 | nodejs Yes |
unicode
|
Chrome 50 |
Edge
12
|
Firefox 46 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 46 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs Yes |
@@match
|
Chrome 50 | Edge 13 | Firefox 49 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 49 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 6.0.0 |
@@matchAll
|
Chrome 73 | Edge 79 | Firefox 67 | IE No | Opera 60 | Safari 13 | WebView Android 73 | Chrome Android 73 | Firefox Android 67 | Opera Android 52 | Safari iOS 13 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 12.0.0 |
@@replace
|
Chrome 50 | Edge 79 | Firefox 49 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 49 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 6.0.0 |
@@search
|
Chrome 50 | Edge 13 | Firefox 49 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 49 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 6.0.0 |
@@species
|
Chrome 50 | Edge 13 | Firefox 49 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 49 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 |
nodejs
6.5.0
|
@@split
|
Chrome 50 | Edge 79 | Firefox 49 | IE No | Opera 37 | Safari 10 | WebView Android 50 | Chrome Android 50 | Firefox Android 49 | Opera Android 37 | Safari iOS 10 | Samsung Internet Android 5.0 | nodejs 6.0.0 |
完整支持
不支持
非标。预期跨浏览器支持较差。
弃用。不要用于新网站。
见实现注意事项。
用户必须明确启用此特征。