RegExp javascript match any word

Question

Hey all i have found the following code that finds a word within the page:

function searchAndHighlight(searchTerm, selector) {
    if(searchTerm) {
        //var wholeWordOnly = new RegExp("\\g"+searchTerm+"\\g","ig"); //matches whole word only
        //var anyCharacter = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig"); //matches any word with any of search chars characters
        var selector = selector || "body";                             //use body as selector if none provided
        var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp(searchTerm,"ig");
        var matches = $(selector).text().match(searchTermRegEx);
        if(matches) {
            $('.highlighted').removeClass('highlighted');     //Remove old search highlights
                $(selector).html($(selector).html()
                    .replace(searchTermRegEx, "<span class='highlighted'>"+searchTerm+"</span>"));
            if($('.highlighted:first').length) {             //if match found, scroll to where the first one appears
                $(window).scrollTop($('.highlighted:first').position().top);
            }
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#search-button').on("click",function() {
        if(!searchAndHighlight($('#search-term').val())) {
            alert("No results found");
        }
    });
});

Within the code you can see it has var anyCharacter = new RegExp("\g["+searchTerm+"]\g","ig"); //matches any word with any of search chars characters.

However, when i try using that RegExp like so:

var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig");

it doesnt seem to return any results then even if i type in an exact name.

Any help would be great!

This might help you out http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9794851/find-text-string-in-jquery-and-make-it-bold/9795091#9795091 — elclanrs, Dec 15 '13 at 22:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 15 '13 at 22:58

1

This fiddle works.

Not sure what the original authors were thinking with the \\g stuff.

The key is this regex:

      searchRegex   = new RegExp('(\\b)(' + searchTerm + ')(\\b)','ig');

answered Dec 15 '13 at 22:58

Michael Mikowski

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Not sure your fiddle works? If you type in **ace** it says it can not find it.. even though *space* has *ace* in it. – StealthRT Dec 15 '13 at 23:03
Maybe im looking at this the wrong way.. I am looking for a type of **wildcard** like you would find in a SQL Query **%whateverHere%**. – StealthRT Dec 15 '13 at 23:08
1

Ah, I misunderstood. That solution only finds whole words. Gimme a sec to match partials.... See http://jsfiddle.net/wmca4/5/ – Michael Mikowski Dec 15 '13 at 23:08
i have also noticed that if you searched once and then try searching again it does nothing? – StealthRT Dec 15 '13 at 23:27
Yes, the fiddle is limited to a single search. I am quite sure it is the same with the original fiddle. – Michael Mikowski Dec 15 '13 at 23:51

score 0 · Answer 2 · 2013-12-16T05:35:23.860

0

To match any word, try

/^\b\w+\b$/i

The regexp matches multiple characters between word boundaries

Replace

var searchTermRegEx = new RegExp("\\g["+searchTerm+"]\\g","ig");

with

var searchTermRegEx = /^\b\w+\b$/i;

The difference is that we are using regex literal than using regex object.

edited Dec 16 '13 at 05:35

answered Dec 15 '13 at 22:22

1

Start and end characters plus global flag doesn't make much sense here. – elclanrs Dec 15 '13 at 22:24
Had a confusion whether or not to include it. Fixed. – Dec 15 '13 at 22:27
@aliasm2k Where would that go in the code in my OP? Can you use that with the code example? – StealthRT Dec 15 '13 at 22:37

RegExp javascript match any word

2 Answers2