Find dates in text

Question

I want to find Dates in a document.

And return this Dates in an array.

Lets suppose I have this text:

On the 03/09/2015 I am swiming in a pool, that was build on the 27-03-1994

Now my code should return ['03/09/2015','27-03-1994'] or simply two Date objects in an array.

My idea was to solve this problem with regex, but the method search() only returns one result and with test() I only can test a string!

How would you try to solve it? Espacially when you dont know the exact format of the Date? Thanks

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5465375/javascript-date-regex-dd-mm-yyyy — Kirill Husiatyn, Oct 05 '15 at 13:24
In regard to converting to a Date object, how do you know if 01/09/2015 is 3 September or 9 March? — RobG, Oct 05 '15 at 13:27
It is very easy to do with https://github.com/wanasit/chrono lib. It parses dates from input text in lots of possible formats! — Michael Yurin, Apr 05 '19 at 12:44

Pranav C Balan · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-05T13:37:24.243

9

You can use match() with regex /\d{2}([\/.-])\d{2}\1\d{4}/g

var str = 'On the 03/09/2015 I am swiming in a pool, that was build on the 27-03-1994';

var res = str.match(/\d{2}([\/.-])\d{2}\1\d{4}/g);

document.getElementById('out').value = res;

<input id="out">

Regular expression visualization

Or you can do something like this with help of capturing group

var str = 'On the 03/09/2015 I am swiming in a pool, that was build on the 27-03-1994';

var res = str.match(/\d{2}(\D)\d{2}\1\d{4}/g);

document.getElementById('out').value = res;

<input id="out">

Regular expression visualization

edited Oct 05 '15 at 13:37

answered Oct 05 '15 at 13:20

Pranav C Balan

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`/\d{2}\[\/-\]\d{2}\[\/-\]\d{4}/g` notice -\ in class, that will invalidate the regex – Tushar Oct 05 '15 at 13:27
Thanks for your help, but how would I have to change the regex to also get Dates that are written like `03.05.15` or `3.02.2014` – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 13:27
@JohnSmith By adding `.` in the class – Tushar Oct 05 '15 at 13:28
2

Something like `/\d{1,2}\D\d{1,2}\D(\d{2}|\d{4})/g` seems more suitable, but what about dates like *3 September, 2015*? – RobG Oct 05 '15 at 13:30
I´am from Spain this Dates practically do not exist! – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 13:31
@RobG I really like your regex, can there be any char between the numbers? That would be great! – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 13:32
@RobG please write an answer so that I can rate it as correct! – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 13:33
2

@JohnSmith—`\D` matches any non–digit. maybe too broad, you could use `[-.\/]` instead. – RobG Oct 05 '15 at 13:33
Another thing, `.` don't need to be escaped when used in class – Tushar Oct 05 '15 at 13:36
@RobG I used your regex but when I try it with `03.07.1994` for example it retruns `03.07.19`. It returns `19` instead of `1994` What do I have to change? – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 13:50
@JohnSmith : may be you are using `\d{2}` instead of `\d{4}`... can you create a http://jsfiddle.net – Pranav C Balan Oct 05 '15 at 13:57
@PranavCBalan I want `1994` as well as `94` https://jsfiddle.net/8sdj4bpn/ – John Smith Oct 05 '15 at 14:10
1

@JohnSmith https://jsfiddle.net/8sdj4bpn/1/ – Pranav C Balan Oct 05 '15 at 14:14
2

@JohnSmith—swap the 2 and 4: `/\d{1,2}\D\d{1,2}\D(\d{4}|\d{2})/g`. – RobG Oct 06 '15 at 01:18

Find dates in text

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