100

I want to check if a string contains special characters like !@#$%^&*.,<>/\'";:? and return true if the string contains atleast one of those chars.

I tried with the following regex,script:

var format = /^[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]*$/;

if( string.match(format) ){
  return true;
}else{
  return false;
}

If the string contains only the special characters then it returns true , but if the string contains something else like alphanumeric chars ( !example1 , .example2 ) it returns false.

Petru Lebada
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  • 1
    remove the anchors and the quantifier. To be more concise, you can use a ternary operator like this: `return str.match(format) ? true : false;` – Casimir et Hippolyte Aug 31 '15 at 12:20
  • 1
    @Takendarkk , that's what it looks like? no,i want an advice on what i've done wrong – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 12:24
  • 1
    @PetruLebada Well, considering you never actually asked a question in your post I was left to guess. – takendarkk Aug 31 '15 at 12:27
  • How do you think your conditions can ever be fullfilled in the real world? Please re-read your question, and make corrections needed. – Teemu Aug 31 '15 at 12:34
  • 4
    @Teemu i'm sorry if i'm rude but i think everyone can figure out what my question's about , as i've received some good answers in a short time.Just because i didn't end my question with a ? mark doesn't mean is not well build. – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 13:10
  • 1
    Return true if at least one special character, return false if any alphanumeric ... Logically impossible. – Teemu Aug 31 '15 at 13:38
  • 1
    @Teemu , maybe is something wrong with me,but it doesn't look so ilogically ... if it makes you understand , i'm trying to block strings containing special characters , in case a string has atleast one special character,run an alert. – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 14:08
  • 2
    Ah... the text below the code describes how the code works, not your actual conditions? If that's the case, then I'm really sorry, this is my bad. – Teemu Aug 31 '15 at 14:59

12 Answers12

142

I suggest using RegExp .test() function to check for a pattern match, and the only thing you need to change is remove the start/end of line anchors (and the * quantifier is also redundant) in the regex:

var format = /[ `!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?~]/;
//            ^                                       ^   
document.write(format.test("My@string-with(some%text)") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My string with spaces") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("MyStringContainingNoSpecialChars"));

The anchors (like ^ start of string/line, $ end od string/line and \b word boundaries) can restrict matches at specific places in a string. When using ^ the regex engine checks if the next subpattern appears right at the start of the string (or line if /m modifier is declared in the regex). Same case with $: the preceding subpattern should match right at the end of the string.

In your case, you want to check the existence of the special character from the set anywhere in the string. Even if it is only one, you want to return false. Thus, you should remove the anchors, and the quantifier *. The * quantifier would match even an empty string, thus we must remove it in order to actually check for the presence of at least 1 special character (actually, without any quantifiers we check for exactly one occurrence, same as if we were using {1} limiting quantifier).

More specific solutions

What characters are "special" for you?

  • All chars other than ASCII chars: /[^\x00-\x7F]/ (demo)
  • All chars other than printable ASCII chars: /[^ -~]/ (demo)
  • Any printable ASCII chars other than space, letters and digits: /[!-\/:-@[-`{-~]/ (demo)
  • Any Unicode punctuation proper chars, the \p{P} Unicode property class:
    • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{P}/u
    • ES6+: 
/[!-#%-*,-\/:;?@[-\]_{}\u00A1\u00A7\u00AB\u00B6\u00B7\u00BB\u00BF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173E}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3B}\u{16B44}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9F}\u{1DA87}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[!-#%-\*,-\/:;\?@\[-\]_\{\}\xA1\xA7\xAB\xB6\xB7\xBB\xBF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3E]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3B\uDF44]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F\uDC9F|\uD836[\uDE87-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F])/
  • All Unicode symbols (not punctuation proper), \p{S}:
    • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{S}/u
    • ES6+: 
/[$+^`|~\u00A2-\u00A6\u00A8\u00A9\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B8\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{10AC8}\u{1173F}\u{16B3C}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B45}\u{1BC9C}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}\u{1DA86}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[$+^`|~\xA2-\xA6\xA8\xA9\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB8\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC]|\uD802[\uDC77\uDC78\uDEC8]|\uD805\uDF3F|\uD81A[\uDF3C-\uDF3F\uDF45]|\uD82F\uDC9C|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85\uDE86]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/
  • All Unicode punctuation and symbols, \p{P} and \p{S}:
    • ECMAScript 2018: /[\p{P}\p{S}]/u
    • ES6+: 
/[!-\/:-@[-`{-~\u00A1-\u00A9\u00AB\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B6-\u00B8\u00BB\u00BF\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AC8}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173F}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B44}\u{16B45}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9C}\u{1BC9F}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[!-\/:-@\[-`\{-~\xA1-\xA9\xAB\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB6-\xB8\xBB\xBF\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDC77\uDC78\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEC8\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3F]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3F\uDF44\uDF45]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F[\uDC9C\uDC9F]|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/
Wiktor Stribiżew
  • 607,720
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  • 1
    thanks,it worked ... though is not clear why ...can you make a short explanation? – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 13:06
  • 1
    and if i want to look for empty space too? what should i change ? – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 13:17
  • 1
    Just add it into the character class. Say, replace `[!` with `[ !`, and if your string contains a space it will be matched (the code will return `true`). – Wiktor Stribiżew Aug 31 '15 at 13:21
  • 1
    No idea what you mean by *not working*, but it works as I described, see my updated snippet. Updated a bit now. `"MyStringContainingNoSpecialChars"` does not contain the characters from the set, thus, it returns `False`. – Wiktor Stribiżew Aug 31 '15 at 13:32
  • 1
    nevermind , it gives the expected result , thank you again – Petru Lebada Aug 31 '15 at 13:37
  • 1
    this wont work for all special characters... "~" is bypassed. – TAHA SULTAN TEMURI May 29 '18 at 05:19
  • 1
    @TAHASULTANTEMURI Please check the OP - there is no `~` char in the original regex. Of course it won't check *all* special chars, because people consider different chars to be special. What about `й`? Some will say it is special, but it is not for me. In some cases, `_` is considered special, too, though it is a word char (matched with `\w`). If we are to match all Unicode special chars in JS, I'd use `[^\p{L}\p{N}]` in ECMAScript 2018 compatible browsers, or use `XRegExp` with this pattern. – Wiktor Stribiżew May 29 '18 at 07:00
  • 1
    @TAHASULTANTEMURI FYI, I added some more specific solutions. – Wiktor Stribiżew Feb 05 '19 at 10:12
  • 1
    @TAHASULTANTEMURI Ok, I think it makes sense to add all ASCII symbols/punctuation (with literal space) into the top solution. I updated the answer, please consider removing [the comment](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32311081/check-for-special-characters-in-string/32311188#comment88162670_32311188). – Wiktor Stribiżew Feb 25 '20 at 10:01
  • 1
    about backslash "\" ? – Code_S Jan 22 '21 at 13:02
27

Your regexp use ^ and $ so it tries to match the entire string. And if you want only a boolean as the result, use test instead of match.

var format = /[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]+/;

if(format.test(string)){
  return true;
} else {
  return false;
}
Magus
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  • Why do you use if statement? [It returns](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp/test#returns) true/false by default, so you don't need it – Danil Zinchenko Sep 02 '22 at 10:08
27

Wouldn't it be easier to negative-match alphanumerics instead?

return string.match(/^[^a-zA-Z0-9]+$/) ? true : false;
Edson Medina
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5

var specialChars = "<>@!#$%^&*()_+[]{}?:;|'\"\\,./~`-=";
var checkForSpecialChar = function(string){
 for(i = 0; i < specialChars.length;i++){
   if(string.indexOf(specialChars[i]) > -1){
       return true
    }
 }
 return false;
}

var str = "YourText";
if(checkForSpecialChar(str)){
  alert("Not Valid");
} else {
    alert("Valid");
}
Sachin I
  • 1,500
  • 3
  • 10
  • 29
3

Remove the characters ^ (start of string) and $ (end of string) from the regular expression.

var format = /[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]/;
Alessio Cantarella
  • 5,077
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  • 34
2

I just did this,

if(string.match(/\W/)){
    return true;    // Contains at least one special character or space
} else {
    return false;
}
Sujit
  • 1,653
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  • 25
1

Check if a string contains at least one password special character:

For reference: ASCII Table -- Printable Characters

Special character ranges in the ASCII table are:

  • Space to /
  • : to @
  • [ to `
  • { to ~

Therefore, use this:

/[ -/:-@[-`{-~]/.test(string)

vimalpa.tel
  • 109
  • 3
1

Simple solution

let text = "12AB"
const specialChars = `/[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]+/;`

const isSpecialCharsPresent = specialChars.split('').some(char => 
text.includes(char)) // true if present and false if not

console.log(isSpecialCharsPresent) // false

let text = "12AB."
console.log(isSpecialCharsPresent) // true
Sandeep Amarnath
  • 5,463
  • 3
  • 33
  • 43
0

var format = /[`!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?~]/;
//            ^                                       ^   
document.write(format.test("My @string-with(some%text)") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My string with spaces") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My StringContainingNoSpecialChars"));
Abhishek Tiwari
  • 27
  • 1
  • 2
0

You can use this regex for specials chars : /\W/

Dieudonné LANDO
  • 21
  • 4
-1

I took an alternative approuch, without using REGEX, O(n) in performence:

function hasSpecialChars(str) {
  const specialCharsSet = new Set("!@#$%^&*()_");
  for (let letter of str) {
    if (specialCharsSet.has(letter)) {
      return true;
    }
  }
  return false;
}
eliezra236
  • 547
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  • 16
-3

You can try this:

regex = [\W_]

It will definitely help you.

Mayur Koshti
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    Please give more information that why \W should be used? \W - non words (includes white spaces?) – Jry9972 May 23 '18 at 11:09