Javascript storing regex in a variable

Question

I have this line of code in javascript

var re = (http|ftp|https):\/\/[\w\-_]+(\.[\w\-_]+)+([\w\-\.,@?^=%&amp;:/~\+#]*[\w\-\@?^=%&amp;/~\+#])?

Usually I encapsulate the regex syntax with the / characters but since they are found within the regex it screws up the encapsulation. Is there another way how I can store it inside the variable?

The current slashes that seem like escape characters are part of the regex, since I am using this in c# aswell and works perfectly

What's with the &? That doesn't quite work with the character class. Also, no need to escape the + or . inside the character class. — Tim Pietzcker
– Tim Pietzcker, Commented Sep 15, 2009 at 15:14

geowa4 · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-15 15:10:52Z

35

var re = new RegExp("^your regexp.*$", "gi");

answered Sep 15, 2009 at 15:10

geowa4

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1 Comment

lenooh Over a year ago

And then to use: yourString.match(re).

Ateş Göral · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-15 15:14:13Z

16

One way is to escape all occurances of / in your regex as \/, like you're already partially doing:

var re = /(http|ftp|https):\/\/[\w\-_]+(\.[\w\-_]+)+([\w\-\.,@?^=%&amp;:\/~\+#]*[\w\-\@?^=%&amp;\/~\+#])?/;

answered Sep 15, 2009 at 15:14

Ateş Göral

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Comments

Tim Pietzcker · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-15 15:13:16Z

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You can escape the slash inside your regex:

/(http|ftp|https):\/\/[\w\-_]+(\.[\w\-_]+)+([\w\-\.,@?^=%&amp;:\/~\+#]*[\w\-\@?^=%&amp;\/~\+#])?/

(you already did so with the first two slashes...)

answered Sep 15, 2009 at 15:13

Tim Pietzcker

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