Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/RegExp/@@match

The [@@match]() method retrieves the matches when matching a string against a regular expression.

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Syntax

regexp[Symbol.match](str)

Parameters

str

A String that is a target of the match.

Return value

An Array containing the entire match result and any parentheses-captured matched results, or null if there were no matches.

Description

This method is called internally in String.prototype.match().

For example, the following two examples return same result.

'abc'.match(/a/);

/a/[Symbol.match]('abc');

This method exists for customizing match behavior within RegExp subclasses.

Examples

Direct call

This method can be used in almost the same way as String.prototype.match(), except the different this and the different arguments order.

let re = /[0-9]+/g;
let str = '2016-01-02';
let result = re[Symbol.match](str);
console.log(result);  // ["2016", "01", "02"]

Using @@match in subclasses

Subclasses of RegExp can override the [@@match]() method to modify the default behavior.

class MyRegExp extends RegExp {
  [Symbol.match](str) {
    let result = RegExp.prototype[Symbol.match].call(this, str);
    if (!result) return null;
    return {
      group(n) {
        return result[n];
      }
    };
  }
}

let re = new MyRegExp('([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)');
let str = '2016-01-02';
let result = str.match(re); // String.prototype.match calls re[@@match].
console.log(result.group(1)); // 2016
console.log(result.group(2)); // 01
console.log(result.group(3)); // 02

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'RegExp.prototype[@@match' in that specification.]

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

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
@@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

Legend

Full support  

Full support

No support  

No support

See also

• String.prototype.match()
• RegExp.prototype[@@replace]()
• RegExp.prototype[@@search]()
• RegExp.prototype[@@split]()
• RegExp.prototype.exec()
• RegExp.prototype.test()

RegExp.prototype[@@match()] by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.