Javascript: extract URLs from string (inc. querystring) and return array

Question

I know this has been asked a thousand times before (apologies), but searching SO/Google etc I am yet to get a conclusive answer.

Basically, I need a JS function which when passed a string, identifies & extracts all URLs based on a regex, returning an array of all found. e.g:

function findUrls(searchText){
    var regex=???
    result= searchText.match(regex);
    if(result){return result;}else{return false;}
}

The function should be able to detect and return any potential urls. I am aware of the inherant difficulties/isses with this (closing parentheses etc), so I have a feeling the process needs to be:

Split the string (searchText) into distinct sections starting/ending) with either nothing, a space or carriage return either side of it, resulting in distinct content chunks, e.g. do a split.

For each content chunk that results from the split, see whether it fits the logic for a URL of any construction, namely, does it contain a period immediately followed the text (the one constant rule for qualifying a potential URL).

The regex should see whether the period is immediately followed by other text, of the type allowable for a tld, directory structure & query string, and preceded by text of the allowable type for a URL.

I am aware false positives may result, however any returned values will then be checked with a call to the URL itself, so this can be ignored. The other functions I have found often dont return the URLs query string too, if present.

From a block of text, the function should thus be able to return any type of URL, even if it means identifying will.i.am as a valid one!

eg. http://www.google.com, google.com, www.google.com, http://google.com, ftp.google.com, https:// etc...and any derivation thereof with a query string should be returned...

Many thanks, apologies again if this exists elsewhere on SO but my searches havent returned it..

People should stop prefixing JS variable with $... JS is not PHP! — helpermethod
– helpermethod, Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 14:42
Re: the poss duplicate, the regex in the listed question doesnt answer all the criteria I set out.. — SW4
– SW4, Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 7:53

chovy · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-07 06:11:18Z

I just use URI.js -- makes it easy.

var source = "Hello www.example.com,\n"
    + "http://google.com is a search engine, like http://www.bing.com\n"
    + "http://exämple.org/foo.html?baz=la#bumm is an IDN URL,\n"
    + "http://123.123.123.123/foo.html is IPv4 and "
    + "http://fe80:0000:0000:0000:0204:61ff:fe9d:f156/foobar.html is IPv6.\n"
    + "links can also be in parens (http://example.org) "
    + "or quotes »http://example.org«.";

var result = URI.withinString(source, function(url) {
    return "<a>" + url + "</a>";
});

/* result is:
Hello <a>www.example.com</a>,
<a>http://google.com</a> is a search engine, like <a>http://www.bing.com</a>
<a>http://exämple.org/foo.html?baz=la#bumm</a> is an IDN URL,
<a>http://123.123.123.123/foo.html</a> is IPv4 and <a>http://fe80:0000:0000:0000:0204:61ff:fe9d:f156/foobar.html</a> is IPv6.
links can also be in parens (<a>http://example.org</a>) or quotes »<a>http://example.org</a>«.
*/

rodneyrehm · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-26 14:03:18Z

16

You could use the regex from URI.js:

// gruber revised expression - http://rodneyrehm.de/t/url-regex.html
var uri_pattern = /\b((?:[a-z][\w-]+:(?:\/{1,3}|[a-z0-9%])|www\d{0,3}[.]|[a-z0-9.\-]+[.][a-z]{2,4}\/)(?:[^\s()<>]+|\(([^\s()<>]+|(\([^\s()<>]+\)))*\))+(?:\(([^\s()<>]+|(\([^\s()<>]+\)))*\)|[^\s`!()\[\]{};:'".,<>?«»“”‘’]))/ig;

String#match and or String#replace may help…

answered Jun 26, 2012 at 14:03

rodneyrehm

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2 Comments

rodneyrehm Over a year ago

Note that using a regex - this one in particular - can cause problems ("catastrophic backtracking") - github.com/medialize/URI.js/issues/131 - I'd go with @chovy's answer and use URI.withinString()

Martijn Hols Over a year ago

The regex in this answer is vulnerable to ReDoS from strings such as

"[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11209016/javascript-extract-urls-from-string-inc-querystring-and-return-array/11209098#11209098](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11209016/javascript-extract-urls-from-string-inc-querystring-and-return-array/11209098#11209098)"

Manoj Selvin · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-10 10:44:18Z

3

Following regular expression extract URLs from string (inc. query string) and returns array

var url = "asdasdla hakjsdh aaskjdh https://www.google.com/search?q=add+a+element+to+dom+tree&oq=add+a+element+to+dom+tree&aqs=chrome..69i57.7462j1j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 askndajk nakjsdn aksjdnakjsdnkjsn";

var matches = strings.match(/\bhttps?::\/\/\S+/gi) || strings.match(/\bhttps?:\/\/\S+/gi);

Output:

["https://www.google.com/search?q=format+to+6+digir&…s=chrome..69i57.5983j1j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8"]

Note: This handles both http:// with single colon and http::// with double colon in string, vice versa for https, So it's safe for you to use. :)

edited Jan 10, 2019 at 10:44

answered Jan 10, 2019 at 10:37

Manoj Selvin

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Comments

Naigel · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-26 14:05:07Z

1

try this

var expression = /[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]{2,256}\.[a-z]{2,4}\b(\/[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]*)?/gi;

you could use this website to test regexp http://gskinner.com/RegExr/

answered Jun 26, 2012 at 14:05

Naigel

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Comments

Ryan M · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-22 09:25:35Z

1

In UIPath Studio the following built-in regex rule has been defined:

/(?:(?:https?|ftp|file):\/\/|www\.|ftp\.)(?:$[-a-zA-Z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|$?!:,.]*$|[-a-zA-Z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|$?!:,.])*(?:$[-a-zA-Z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|$?!:,.]*$|[a-zA-Z0-9+&@#\/%=~_|$])/

edited Oct 22, 2021 at 9:25

Ryan M♦

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answered Oct 22, 2021 at 9:23

zolka

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