How to use regex with not ^ and capture groups?

Question

How do I use the Not operator ^ with the capture groups in regex.

How would I make a capture group on all URLs that do not contain api.

How I thought this would look is var notAPI = /(^api)/;

Use `indexOf`. `if (url.indexOf('api')) === -1` or `!/api/.test(url)` — Tushar, Feb 05 '16 at 18:03
Possible duplicate of [Regular expression that doesn't contain certain string](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/717644/regular-expression-that-doesnt-contain-certain-string) — randers, Feb 05 '16 at 18:12

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 05 '16 at 18:13

1

Regex only has negative lookaheads and lookbehinds. Their spirit is: you only look, you don't move forward.

This is a negative lookahead:

(?!nomatch)

And this is a negative lookbehind:

(?<!nomatch)

You can incorporate these lookarounds into your regex like this:

var notAPI = /^((?!api).)*$/;

Take a look at this answer - it also explains how it works.

answered Feb 05 '16 at 18:13

randers

Yup that was it. I hardly know how to frame this question. Super new to regex. I need to hit the books. – Armeen Moon Feb 05 '16 at 18:19

1 Answers1