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JavaScript Regular Expressions

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Learning RegExp ...

JavaScript has some amazingly powerful features that are comparable with many advanced programming languages and one such feature is regular expressions (RegExp for short). The problem is that to many, they are considered a 'black art' and because of this, they are usually only understood by an elite few with programming experience.

This page employs a novel method of teaching regular expressions that is is designed to enable web authors who do not have programming experience, to start using regular expressions in their own JavaScript scripts and in the process, gain an understanding of how regular expressions work.

JavaScript Implimentation ...

Regular expressions employ a system of pattern matching that is exactly the same across a variety of advanced programming languages, the only difference being the different ways they are implimented. In JavaScript for example, the keyword that identifies them is 'RegExp' and they are only supported in four of JavaScript's String Methods. Also, you cannot replace a regular expression pattern with another regular expression pattern, only with a string. A regular expression object contains the pattern of a regular expression. It has properties and methods for using that regular expression to find and replace matches in strings or to match patterns in strings. JavaScript RegExp can be used in the following JavaScript String Methods.

string.match()
string.search()
string.replace()
string.split()

Some Basic Examples ...

string = string.replace(new RegExp(/^\s+/),""); // START
string = string.replace(new RegExp(/\s+$/),""); // END

Note: In the context of regular expressions the term 'white space' includes any non-printing character, that is any character you cannot see. Examples include blank spaces, carriage returns, line feeds, tab characters, etc.

7. Test for a match at end of string against a number of different options.

var domainName =

web-wise-wizard.com		web-wise-wizard.us
web-wise-wizard.web		web-wise-wizard.ca
web-wise-wizard.net		web-wise-wizard.co.uk
web-wise-wizard.info		web-wise-wizard.au

if (domainName.match(/\.com$|\.net$|\.us$|\.co\.uk$/i)) {
	return(true);
} else {
	return(false);
}

result ...

A More Complex Example ...

This example uses a JavaScript subroutine that contains eleven regular expression matches or replacements. The job of the subroutine is to determine if a URL contains a sub-domain but this apparently simple task is actually quite a complex task to achieve. The advantage of using this example is that it enables us to demonstrate a wide range of regular expressions and you can 'cherry pick' the usages for use in your own scripts.

function subDomain(url) {

// IF THERE, REMOVE WHITE SPACE FROM BOTH ENDS
url = url.replace(new RegExp(/^\s+/),""); // START
url = url.replace(new RegExp(/\s+$/),""); // END

// IF FOUND, CONVERT BACK SLASHES TO FORWARD SLASHES
url = url.replace(new RegExp(/\\/g),"/");

// IF THERE, REMOVES 'http://', 'https://' or 'ftp://' FROM THE START
url = url.replace(new RegExp(/^http\:\/\/|^https\:\/\/|^ftp\:\/\//i),"");

// IF THERE, REMOVES 'www.' FROM THE START OF THE STRING

url = url.replace(new RegExp(/^www\./i),"");

// REMOVE COMPLETE STRING FROM FIRST FORWARD SLASH ON

url = url.replace(new RegExp(/\/(.*)/),"");

// REMOVES '.??.??' OR '.???.??' FROM END - e.g. '.CO.UK', '.COM.AU'

if (url.match(new RegExp(/\.[a-z]{2,3}\.[a-z]{2}$/i))) {

url = url.replace(new RegExp(/\.[a-z]{2,3}\.[a-z]{2}$/i),"");

// REMOVES '.??' or '.???' or '.????' FROM END - e.g. '.US', '.COM', '.INFO'

} else if (url.match(new RegExp(/\.[a-z]{2,4}$/i))) {

url = url.replace(new RegExp(/\.[a-z]{2,4}$/i),"");

}

// CHECK TO SEE IF THERE IS A DOT '.' LEFT IN THE STRING
var subDomain = (url.match(new RegExp(/\./g))) ? true : false;

return(subDomain);

}

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Web-Wise-Wizard - Learn Regular Expressions Use this novel method to learn JavaScript regular expressions. Designed to enable web authors to use regular expressions in their own scripts and to start understanding how regular expressions work.

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