How to ignore newline in regexp?

Question

How to ignore newline in regexp in Javascript ?

for example:

 data = "\
    <test>11\n
    1</test>\n\
    #EXTM3U\n\
 "
 var reg = new RegExp( "\<" + "test" + "\>(.*?)\<\/" + "test" + "\>" )
 var match = data.match(reg)
 console.log(match[1])

result: undefined

possible duplicate of [How to use JavaScript regex over multiple lines?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1979884/how-to-use-javascript-regex-over-multiple-lines) — Bdfy, May 27 '13 at 11:01

score 18 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 11:02

18

In JavaScript, there is no flag to tell to RegExp() that . should match newlines. So, you need to use a workaround e.g. [\s\S].

Your RegExp would then look like this:

var reg = new RegExp( "\<" + "test" + "\>([\s\S]*?)\<\/" + "test" + "\>" );

edited Jun 20 '20 at 11:02

Kate Orlova

3,225
5
11
35

answered May 27 '13 at 10:12

t.niese

39,256
9
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101

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered May 27 '13 at 10:12

You are missing a JS newline character \ at the end of line 2.

Also, change regexp to:

 var data = "\
    <test>11\n\
    1</test>\n\
    #EXTM3U\n\
 ";
 var reg = new RegExp(/<test>(.|\s)*<\/test>/);
 var match = data.match(reg);
 console.log(match[0]);

http://jsfiddle.net/samliew/DPc2E/

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

6

By reading this one: How to use JavaScript regex over multiple lines?

I came with that, which works:

var data = "<test>11\n1</test>\n#EXTM3U\n";
reg = /<test>([\s\S]*?)<\/test>/;
var match = data.match(reg);
console.log(match[1]);

Here is a fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/Rpkj2/

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

1
1

answered May 27 '13 at 10:21

qur2

450
5
9

Can confirm this works. – Zenahr Feb 04 '23 at 21:10

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered May 27 '13 at 10:12

3

Better you can use [\s\S] instead of . for multiline matching.

It is the most common JavaScript idiom for matching everything including newlines. It's easier on the eyes and much more efficient than an alternation-based approach like (.|\n).

answered May 27 '13 at 10:12

Santosh Panda

7,235
8
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tester · Answer 5 · 2021-06-25T09:58:02.550

EDIT: Got it:

I tried to use this regex in notepad++ But the problem is that it finds the whole text from beginning to end

MyRegex:

<hostname-validation>(.|\s)*<\/pathname-validation> (finds everything)
/<hostname-validation>(.|\s)*<\/pathname-validation>/ (finds nothing)
/\<hostname-validation\>([\s\S]*?)\<\/pathname-validation\>/ (finds nothing)
**<hostname-validation>([\s\S]*?)<\/pathname-validation> (my desired result)**

The text where I use in:

<hostname-validation>www.your-tag-name.com</hostname-validation>
          <pathname-validation>pathname</pathname-validation>   <response-validation nil="true"/>
          <validate-absence type="boolean">false</validate-absence> (...) <hostname-validation>www.your-tag-name.com</hostname-validation>
          <pathname-validation>pathname</pathname-validation>   <response-validation nil="false"/>
          <validate-absence type="boolean">false</validate-absence> (...) <hostname-validation>www.your-tag-name.com</hostname-validation>
          <pathname-validation>pathname</pathname-validation>   <response-validation nil="true"/>
          <validate-absence type="boolean">false</validate-absence> (...)

How to ignore newline in regexp?

5 Answers5