Why m I getting different results for the same regex splitting function? [duplicate]

Question

I've created 2 functions here, and they're nearly 100% identical. The only difference is that the functions' regex character sets are ordered differently. Why do these 2 functions result in different outputs?

// FUNCTION 1:
function splitify(str) {
  let divs= str.split(/[\." "-,]/)    //order different [inside]
  return divs
}
console.log(splitify("Hello World,I-am code")); 
 //OUTPUT: ["Hello", "World", "I-am", "code"]

//FUNCTION 2
function splitify2(str) {
  let divs = str.split(/[-" ",\.]/);   //order different [inside]
  return divs;
}
console.log(splitify2('Hello World,I-am code'));
//OUTPUT: ['Hello', 'World', 'I', 'am', 'code'];

Note that [\." "-,] (or simplified [. "-,]) matches any of "#$%&'()*+,. or space, while [-" ",\.] (or simplified [-" ,.]) matches any of ",-. or space. — Biffen
– Biffen, Commented Apr 8, 2021 at 6:08

Gil · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-08 06:23:18Z

3

The regex structure inside brackets is slightly different.

For example, when you try to match the string -. the regex should be /-\./ because . represents any single char and should be escaped in order to be literal.

However, using brackets enables you to look for literals but in there it's the - that is different. for example, [a-z] means the range from a to z, therefore you need to escape it for it to be considered as literal.

So, your syntax /[\." "-,]/should be like this /[. \-,]/.

Note that . doesn't need to be escaped, and also the space is like any other char and doesn't need quotes.

edited Apr 8, 2021 at 6:23

answered Apr 8, 2021 at 6:16

Gil

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