Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/RegExp

The RegExp object is used for matching text with a pattern.

For an introduction to regular expressions, read the Regular Expressions chapter in the JavaScript Guide.

Description

Literal notation and constructor

There are two ways to create a RegExp object: a literal notation and a constructor.

The literal notation's parameters are enclosed between slashes and do not use quotation marks.
The constructor function's parameters are not enclosed between slashes but do use quotation marks.

The following three expressions create the same regular expression object:

let re = /ab+c/i; // literal notation
let re = new RegExp('ab+c', 'i') // constructor with string pattern as first argument
let re = new RegExp(/ab+c/, 'i') // constructor with regular expression literal as first argument (Starting with ECMAScript 6)

The literal notation results in compilation of the regular expression when the expression is evaluated. Use literal notation when the regular expression will remain constant. For example, if you use literal notation to construct a regular expression used in a loop, the regular expression won't be recompiled on each iteration.

The constructor of the regular expression object—for example, new RegExp('ab+c')—results in runtime compilation of the regular expression. Use the constructor function when you know the regular expression pattern will be changing, or you don't know the pattern and obtain it from another source, such as user input.

Flags in constructor

Starting with ECMAScript 6, new RegExp(/ab+c/, 'i') no longer throws a TypeError ("can't supply flags when constructing one RegExp from another") when the first argument is a RegExp and the second flags argument is present. A new RegExp from the arguments is created instead.

When using the constructor function, the normal string escape rules (preceding special characters with \ when included in a string) are necessary.

For example, the following are equivalent:

let re = /\w+/
let re = new RegExp('\\w+')

Perl-like RegExp properties

Note that several of the RegExp properties have both long and short (Perl-like) names. Both names always refer to the same value. (Perl is the programming language from which JavaScript modeled its regular expressions.). See also deprecated RegExp properties.

Constructor

RegExp(): Creates a new RegExp object.

Static properties

get RegExp[@@species]: The constructor function that is used to create derived objects.
RegExp.lastIndex: The index at which to start the next match.

Instance properties

RegExp.prototype.flags: A string that contains the flags of the RegExp object.
RegExp.prototype.dotAll: Whether . matches newlines or not.
RegExp.prototype.global: Whether to test the regular expression against all possible matches in a string, or only against the first.
RegExp.prototype.ignoreCase: Whether to ignore case while attempting a match in a string.
RegExp.prototype.multiline: Whether or not to search in strings across multiple lines.
RegExp.prototype.source: The text of the pattern.
RegExp.prototype.sticky: Whether or not the search is sticky.
RegExp.prototype.unicode: Whether or not Unicode features are enabled.

Instance methods

RegExp.prototype.compile(): (Re-)compiles a regular expression during execution of a script.
RegExp.prototype.exec(): Executes a search for a match in its string parameter.
RegExp.prototype.test(): Tests for a match in its string parameter.
RegExp.prototype.toString(): Returns a string representing the specified object. Overrides the Object.prototype.toString() method.
RegExp.prototype[@@match](): Performs match to given string and returns match result.
RegExp.prototype[@@matchAll](): Returns all matches of the regular expression against a string.
RegExp.prototype[@@replace](): Replaces matches in given string with new substring.
RegExp.prototype[@@search](): Searches the match in given string and returns the index the pattern found in the string.
RegExp.prototype[@@split](): Splits given string into an array by separating the string into substrings.

Examples

Using a regular expression to change data format

The following script uses the replace() method of the String instance to match a name in the format first last and output it in the format last, first.

In the replacement text, the script uses $1 and $2 to indicate the results of the corresponding matching parentheses in the regular expression pattern.

let re = /(\w+)\s(\w+)/
let str = 'John Smith'
let newstr = str.replace(re, '$2, $1')
console.log(newstr)

This displays "Smith, John".

Using regular expression to split lines with different line endings/ends of line/line breaks

The default line ending varies depending on the platform (Unix, Windows, etc.). The line splitting provided in this example works on all platforms.

let text = 'Some text\nAnd some more\r\nAnd yet\rThis is the end'
let lines = text.split(/\r\n|\r|\n/)
console.log(lines) // logs [ 'Some text', 'And some more', 'And yet', 'This is the end' ]

Note that the order of the patterns in the regular expression matters.

Using regular expression on multiple lines

let s = 'Please yes\nmake my day!'

s.match(/yes.*day/);
// Returns null

s.match(/yes[^]*day/);
// Returns ["yes\nmake my day"]

Using a regular expression with the sticky flag

The sticky flag indicates that the regular expression performs sticky matching in the target string by attempting to match starting at RegExp.prototype.lastIndex.

let str = '#foo#'
let regex = /foo/y

regex.lastIndex = 1
regex.test(str)      // true
regex.lastIndex = 5
regex.test(str)      // false (lastIndex is taken into account with sticky flag)
regex.lastIndex      // 0 (reset after match failure)

The difference between the sticky flag and the global flag

With the sticky flag y, the next match has to happen at the lastIndex position, while with the global flag g, the match can happen at the lastIndex position or later:

re = /\d/y;
while (r = re.exec("123 456")) console.log(r, "AND re.lastIndex", re.lastIndex);

// [ '1', index: 0, input: '123 456', groups: undefined ] AND re.lastIndex 1
// [ '2', index: 1, input: '123 456', groups: undefined ] AND re.lastIndex 2
// [ '3', index: 2, input: '123 456', groups: undefined ] AND re.lastIndex 3
//   ... and no more match.

With the global flag g, all 6 digits would be matched, not just 3.

Regular expression and Unicode characters

\w and \W only matches ASCII based characters; for example, a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9, and _.

To match characters from other languages such as Cyrillic or Hebrew, use \uhhhh, where hhhh is the character's Unicode value in hexadecimal.

This example demonstrates how one can separate out Unicode characters from a word.

let text = 'Образец text на русском языке'
let regex = /[\u0400-\u04FF]+/g

let match = regex.exec(text)
console.log(match[0])        // logs 'Образец'
console.log(regex.lastIndex) // logs '7'

let match2 = regex.exec(text)
console.log(match2[0])       // logs 'на' [did not log 'text']
console.log(regex.lastIndex) // logs '15'

// and so on

The Unicode property escapes feature introduces a solution, by allowing for a statement as simple as \p{scx=Cyrl}.

Extracting sub-domain name from URL

let url = 'http://xxx.domain.com'
console.log(/[^.]+/.exec(url)[0].substr(7)) // logs 'xxx'

Instead of using regular expressions for parsing URLs, it is usually better to use the browsers built-in URL parser by using the URL API.

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'RegExp' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
`RegExp`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp()` constructor	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`compile` Deprecated'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 6	Safari Full support 3.1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 2	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`dotAll`	Chrome Full support 62	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 78	IE No support No	Opera Full support 49	Safari Full support 12	WebView Android Full support 62	Chrome Android Full support 62	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 46	Safari iOS Full support 12	Samsung Internet Android Full support 8.0	nodejs Full support 8.10.0 Full support 8.10.0 Full support 8.3.0 Disabled' Disabled' From version 8.3.0: this feature is behind the `--harmony` runtime flag.
`exec`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`flags`	Chrome Full support 49	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 37	IE No support No	Opera Full support 39	Safari Full support 9	WebView Android Full support 49	Chrome Android Full support 49	Firefox Android Full support 37	Opera Android Full support 41	Safari iOS Full support 9	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.0.0
`global`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`ignoreCase`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp.input` (`$_`) Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`lastIndex`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp.lastMatch` (`$&`) Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 10.5	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 11	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp.lastParen` (`$+`) Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 10.5	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 11	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp.leftContext` ($`) Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 8	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
lookbehind assertions (`(?<= )` and `(?<! )`)	Chrome Full support 62	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 78	IE No support No	Opera Full support 49	Safari No support No	WebView Android Full support 62	Chrome Android Full support 62	Firefox Android No support No Notes' No support No Notes' Notes' See bug 1225665.	Opera Android Full support 46	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 8.0	nodejs Full support 8.10.0
`multiline`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`RegExp.$1-$9`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
Named capture groups	Chrome Full support 64	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 78	IE No support No	Opera Full support 51	Safari Full support 11.1	WebView Android Full support 64	Chrome Android Full support 64	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 47	Safari iOS Full support 11.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0	nodejs Full support 10.0.0 Full support 10.0.0 Full support 8.3.0 Disabled' Disabled' From version 8.3.0: this feature is behind the `--harmony` runtime flag.
Unicode property escapes (`\p{...}`)	Chrome Full support 64	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 78	IE No support No	Opera Full support 51	Safari Full support 11.1	WebView Android Full support 64	Chrome Android Full support 64	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 47	Safari iOS Full support 11.3	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0	nodejs Full support 10.0.0 Full support 10.0.0 Full support 8.3.0 Disabled' Disabled' From version 8.3.0: this feature is behind the `--harmony` runtime flag.
`RegExp.rightContext` (`$'`) Non-standard'	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 8	Safari Full support 3	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`source`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`sticky`	Chrome Full support 49	Edge Full support 13	Firefox Full support 3	IE No support No	Opera Full support 36	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 49	Chrome Android Full support 49	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 36	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`test`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`toSource` Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support No	Firefox No support 1 — 74 Notes' No support 1 — 74 Notes' Notes' Starting in Firefox 74, `toSource()` is no longer available for use by web content. It is still allowed for internal and privileged code.	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android No support No	nodejs No support No
`toString`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 4	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`unicode`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 12 Notes' Full support 12 Notes' Notes' Case folding is implemented in version 13	Firefox Full support 46	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 46	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support Yes
`@@match`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 13	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 49	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.0.0
`@@matchAll`	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 67	IE No support No	Opera Full support 60	Safari Full support 13	WebView Android Full support 73	Chrome Android Full support 73	Firefox Android Full support 67	Opera Android Full support 52	Safari iOS Full support 13	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 12.0.0
`@@replace`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 49	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.0.0
`@@search`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 13	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 49	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.0.0
`@@species`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 13	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 49	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.5.0 Full support 6.5.0 Full support 6.0.0 Disabled' Disabled' From version 6.0.0: this feature is behind the `--harmony` runtime flag.
`@@split`	Chrome Full support 50	Edge Full support 79	Firefox Full support 49	IE No support No	Opera Full support 37	Safari Full support 10	WebView Android Full support 50	Chrome Android Full support 50	Firefox Android Full support 49	Opera Android Full support 37	Safari iOS Full support 10	Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0	nodejs Full support 6.0.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.': Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.

Firefox-specific notes

Starting with Firefox 34, in the case of a capturing group with quantifiers preventing its exercise, the matched text for a capturing group is now undefined instead of an empty string:

// Firefox 33 or older
'x'.replace(/x(.)?/g, function(m, group) {
  console.log("'group:" + group + "'");
}); 
// 'group:'

// Firefox 34 or newer
'x'.replace(/x(.)?/g, function(m, group) {
  console.log("'group:" + group + "'");
}); 
// 'group:undefined'

Note that due to web compatibility, RegExp.$N will still return an empty string instead of undefined (bug 1053944).