Extracting an array of integers using a regular expression in javascript

Question

I'm having real difficulty with this but I'm no javascript expert. All I want to do is get myself an array of all matches in a string which match a given regExp. The regExp being this :

[0-9]+

ie. Any integer.

So If I pass the string "12 09:8:76:::54 12" I should get

arr[0]="12" arr[1]="09" arr[2]="8" arr[3]="76" arr[4]="54" arr[5]="12"

Easy? Not for me! I could do this in vb.net no problem with regexp.matches(string) (something like that anyway). I thought that the javascript method .exec would also give me an array however it only returns the first match. What's going on? Code...

function testIt(){
    splitOutSelection2("123:::45  0::12312 12:17"); 
}


function splitOutSelection2(sSelection){
    var regExp = new RegExp("[0-9]+","g");
    var arr = regExp.exec(sSelection);
};

Tim Pietzcker · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-19 08:51:55Z

3

arr = sSelection.match(/[0-9]+/g);

should do.

g is the global modifier that you need to get all the matches, not just the first one.

answered Jul 19, 2010 at 8:51

Tim Pietzcker

337k59 gold badges520 silver badges572 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

El Ronnoco Over a year ago

Thanks, this works. I realise that I should be using match and not exec. I was specifying the global modifier in my regExp declaration. But it is 'match' that is the key. My code can be rewritten as.. function splitOutSelection2(sSelection){ var regExp = new RegExp("[0-9]+","g"); var arr = sSelection.match(regExp); };

WSkid · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-19 08:53:33Z

1

something like:

var arrMatch = "12 09:8:76:::54 12".match(/[0-9]+/g);
alert(arrMatch);

.match will return an array if global is set (and matches are found of course). [0-9]+ means it will search for not only single digits, but also match 12, 09, 76.

answered Jul 19, 2010 at 8:53

WSkid

2,7762 gold badges22 silver badges26 bronze badges

1 Comment

El Ronnoco Over a year ago

Thanks. I initially thought that match wasn't working but it was not working because I hadn't set the g flag. This is why I went down the exec route which was incorrect.

Toto · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-19 08:56:48Z

1

According to the doc, exec return the first match. You should use match instead.

var arr = sSelection.match(/[0-9]+/g);

or

var arr = sSelection.match(/\d+/g);

answered Jul 19, 2010 at 8:56

Toto

91.7k63 gold badges97 silver badges135 bronze badges

Comments

El Ronnoco · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-19 10:18:43Z

0

All the answers work but I was wanting to keep my regExp object rather than specify it at the time of use. So simply changing the function to...

function splitOutSelection2(sSelection){
    var regExp = new RegExp("[0-9]+","g");
    var arr = sSelection.match(regExp);
};

..is what I was looking for. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction though to all who have replied.

answered Jul 19, 2010 at 10:18

El Ronnoco

11.9k5 gold badges41 silver badges67 bronze badges

Comments

Vincent · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-10 22:04:30Z

0

function splitOutSelection2(sSelection){
    return sSelection.split(/[^0-9]+/g);
};

Negate the regExp and use String#split.

answered Aug 10, 2010 at 22:04

Vincent

4,0762 gold badges24 silver badges31 bronze badges

1 Comment

El Ronnoco Over a year ago

Thanks, I'm sure this will work too. Is using split and a negated match more efficient than using exec?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Extracting an array of integers using a regular expression in javascript

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

5 Answers 5

1 Comment

1 Comment

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related