Matching content within a string with one regex

Question

I am looking for a way to RegEx match for a string (double quote followed by one or more letter, digit, or space followed by another double quote). For example, if the input was var s = "\"this is a string\"", I would like to create a RegEx to match this string and produce a result of [""this is a string""].

Thank you!

means instead of var s = "this is a string" this you want display ["this is a string"] like this ? — Devang Rathod, Feb 09 '13 at 05:58
Look for a regex escaping library, and then use the `RegExp` constructor — John Dvorak, Feb 09 '13 at 05:58
i'm not looking to pass a variable to a RegEx, just a pattern to match a double quote followed by one or more characters(letters, digits, spaces) followed by another double quote — Joey, Feb 09 '13 at 16:21

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

1

Use the RegExp constructor function.

var s = "this is a string";
var re = new RegExp(s);

Note that you may need to quote the input string.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

1
1

answered Feb 09 '13 at 05:58

Matt Ball

354,903
100
647
710

It should be expanded beyond a note – John Dvorak Feb 09 '13 at 06:01
Yup, I'm working on it... – Matt Ball Feb 09 '13 at 06:01
Voted. That question always takes me a while to find. – Matt Ball Feb 09 '13 at 06:07
1

you should replace the mataChars like `var metaChars = /([[\]\*{}\^\$\\.|?+-])/g; var re = new RegExp(s.replace(metaChars, '\\$1'));` – Rain Diao Feb 09 '13 at 06:18

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 09 '13 at 06:01

0

This should do what you need.

s =~ /"[^"]*"/

The regex matches a double quote, followed by some number of non-quotes, followed by a quote. You'll run into problems if your string has a quote in it, like this:

var s = "\"I love you,\" she said"

Then you'll need something a bit more complicated like this:

s =~ /"([^"]|\\")*"/

answered Feb 09 '13 at 06:01

George Madrid

703
7
16

I don't think bitwise-negating a regex is a good idea. Did you mistake a language? – John Dvorak Feb 09 '13 at 06:03

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 09 '13 at 16:22

0

I just needed a pattern to match a double quote followed by one or more characters(letters, digits, spaces) followed by another double quote so this did it for me:

/"[^"]*"/

answered Feb 09 '13 at 16:22

Joey

1,144
3
15
29

Matching content within a string with one regex

3 Answers3