Trouble with Regular Expression and special charters

Question

I am using a regular Expression for a glosary function on a website, but it can not "handle" special charters as æ, ø and å. The regEx is as follows:

var re = new RegExp("\\b" + pat + "\\b", "g");

How can i modify the RegEx above to handle special charters?

Use `var re = new RegExp("(^|\\s)" + pat.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&') + "(?!\\S)", "g");` to require whitespaces around the `pat`. This answer has been accepted for this kind of regex questions a lot of times. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Aug 12 '16 at 06:32
If the solution above is not working, you will find `XRegExp` useful to build a custom word boundary. [Or something like this](http://stackoverflow.com/a/37471102/3832970). — Wiktor Stribiżew, Aug 12 '16 at 06:45
@Wiktor Stribiżew thanks very much for your reply! I is finding the Words, but when i do a match, it returns an array like this (re.exec(myText)) ["word",], when I am doing it with the other REgEx it returns ["word"] — PNR, Aug 12 '16 at 07:49

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

You may use the solution from here:

function getWholeWords(input, word) {
  var pL = "a-zA-Z\\xAA\\xB5\\xBA\\xC0-\\xD6\\xD8-\\xF6\\xF8-\\u02C1\\u02C6-\\u02D1\\u02E0-\\u02E4\\u02EC\\u02EE\\u0370-\\u0374\\u0376\\u0377\\u037A-\\u037D\\u037F\\u0386\\u0388-\\u038A\\u038C\\u038E-\\u03A1\\u03A3-\\u03F5\\u03F7-\\u0481\\u048A-\\u052F\\u0531-\\u0556\\u0559\\u0561-\\u0587\\u05D0-\\u05EA\\u05F0-\\u05F2\\u0620-\\u064A\\u066E\\u066F\\u0671-\\u06D3\\u06D5\\u06E5\\u06E6\\u06EE\\u06EF\\u06FA-\\u06FC\\u06FF\\u0710\\u0712-\\u072F\\u074D-\\u07A5\\u07B1\\u07CA-\\u07EA\\u07F4\\u07F5\\u07FA\\u0800-\\u0815\\u081A\\u0824\\u0828\\u0840-\\u0858\\u08A0-\\u08B2\\u0904-\\u0939\\u093D\\u0950\\u0958-\\u0961\\u0971-\\u0980\\u0985-\\u098C\\u098F\\u0990\\u0993-\\u09A8\\u09AA-\\u09B0\\u09B2\\u09B6-\\u09B9\\u09BD\\u09CE\\u09DC\\u09DD\\u09DF-\\u09E1\\u09F0\\u09F1\\u0A05-\\u0A0A\\u0A0F\\u0A10\\u0A13-\\u0A28\\u0A2A-\\u0A30\\u0A32\\u0A33\\u0A35\\u0A36\\u0A38\\u0A39\\u0A59-\\u0A5C\\u0A5E\\u0A72-\\u0A74\\u0A85-\\u0A8D\\u0A8F-\\u0A91\\u0A93-\\u0AA8\\u0AAA-\\u0AB0\\u0AB2\\u0AB3\\u0AB5-\\u0AB9\\u0ABD\\u0AD0\\u0AE0\\u0AE1\\u0B05-\\u0B0C\\u0B0F\\u0B10\\u0B13-\\u0B28\\u0B2A-\\u0B30\\u0B32\\u0B33\\u0B35-\\u0B39\\u0B3D\\u0B5C\\u0B5D\\u0B5F-\\u0B61\\u0B71\\u0B83\\u0B85-\\u0B8A\\u0B8E-\\u0B90\\u0B92-\\u0B95\\u0B99\\u0B9A\\u0B9C\\u0B9E\\u0B9F\\u0BA3\\u0BA4\\u0BA8-\\u0BAA\\u0BAE-\\u0BB9\\u0BD0\\u0C05-\\u0C0C\\u0C0E-\\u0C10\\u0C12-\\u0C28\\u0C2A-\\u0C39\\u0C3D\\u0C58\\u0C59\\u0C60\\u0C61\\u0C85-\\u0C8C\\u0C8E-\\u0C90\\u0C92-\\u0CA8\\u0CAA-\\u0CB3\\u0CB5-\\u0CB9\\u0CBD\\u0CDE\\u0CE0\\u0CE1\\u0CF1\\u0CF2\\u0D05-\\u0D0C\\u0D0E-\\u0D10\\u0D12-\\u0D3A\\u0D3D\\u0D4E\\u0D60\\u0D61\\u0D7A-\\u0D7F\\u0D85-\\u0D96\\u0D9A-\\u0DB1\\u0DB3-\\u0DBB\\u0DBD\\u0DC0-\\u0DC6\\u0E01-\\u0E30\\u0E32\\u0E33\\u0E40-\\u0E46\\u0E81\\u0E82\\u0E84\\u0E87\\u0E88\\u0E8A\\u0E8D\\u0E94-\\u0E97\\u0E99-\\u0E9F\\u0EA1-\\u0EA3\\u0EA5\\u0EA7\\u0EAA\\u0EAB\\u0EAD-\\u0EB0\\u0EB2\\u0EB3\\u0EBD\\u0EC0-\\u0EC4\\u0EC6\\u0EDC-\\u0EDF\\u0F00\\u0F40-\\u0F47\\u0F49-\\u0F6C\\u0F88-\\u0F8C\\u1000-\\u102A\\u103F\\u1050-\\u1055\\u105A-\\u105D\\u1061\\u1065\\u1066\\u106E-\\u1070\\u1075-\\u1081\\u108E\\u10A0-\\u10C5\\u10C7\\u10CD\\u10D0-\\u10FA\\u10FC-\\u1248\\u124A-\\u124D\\u1250-\\u1256\\u1258\\u125A-\\u125D\\u1260-\\u1288\\u128A-\\u128D\\u1290-\\u12B0\\u12B2-\\u12B5\\u12B8-\\u12BE\\u12C0\\u12C2-\\u12C5\\u12C8-\\u12D6\\u12D8-\\u1310\\u1312-\\u1315\\u1318-\\u135A\\u1380-\\u138F\\u13A0-\\u13F4\\u1401-\\u166C\\u166F-\\u167F\\u1681-\\u169A\\u16A0-\\u16EA\\u16F1-\\u16F8\\u1700-\\u170C\\u170E-\\u1711\\u1720-\\u1731\\u1740-\\u1751\\u1760-\\u176C\\u176E-\\u1770\\u1780-\\u17B3\\u17D7\\u17DC\\u1820-\\u1877\\u1880-\\u18A8\\u18AA\\u18B0-\\u18F5\\u1900-\\u191E\\u1950-\\u196D\\u1970-\\u1974\\u1980-\\u19AB\\u19C1-\\u19C7\\u1A00-\\u1A16\\u1A20-\\u1A54\\u1AA7\\u1B05-\\u1B33\\u1B45-\\u1B4B\\u1B83-\\u1BA0\\u1BAE\\u1BAF\\u1BBA-\\u1BE5\\u1C00-\\u1C23\\u1C4D-\\u1C4F\\u1C5A-\\u1C7D\\u1CE9-\\u1CEC\\u1CEE-\\u1CF1\\u1CF5\\u1CF6\\u1D00-\\u1DBF\\u1E00-\\u1F15\\u1F18-\\u1F1D\\u1F20-\\u1F45\\u1F48-\\u1F4D\\u1F50-\\u1F57\\u1F59\\u1F5B\\u1F5D\\u1F5F-\\u1F7D\\u1F80-\\u1FB4\\u1FB6-\\u1FBC\\u1FBE\\u1FC2-\\u1FC4\\u1FC6-\\u1FCC\\u1FD0-\\u1FD3\\u1FD6-\\u1FDB\\u1FE0-\\u1FEC\\u1FF2-\\u1FF4\\u1FF6-\\u1FFC\\u2071\\u207F\\u2090-\\u209C\\u2102\\u2107\\u210A-\\u2113\\u2115\\u2119-\\u211D\\u2124\\u2126\\u2128\\u212A-\\u212D\\u212F-\\u2139\\u213C-\\u213F\\u2145-\\u2149\\u214E\\u2183\\u2184\\u2C00-\\u2C2E\\u2C30-\\u2C5E\\u2C60-\\u2CE4\\u2CEB-\\u2CEE\\u2CF2\\u2CF3\\u2D00-\\u2D25\\u2D27\\u2D2D\\u2D30-\\u2D67\\u2D6F\\u2D80-\\u2D96\\u2DA0-\\u2DA6\\u2DA8-\\u2DAE\\u2DB0-\\u2DB6\\u2DB8-\\u2DBE\\u2DC0-\\u2DC6\\u2DC8-\\u2DCE\\u2DD0-\\u2DD6\\u2DD8-\\u2DDE\\u2E2F\\u3005\\u3006\\u3031-\\u3035\\u303B\\u303C\\u3041-\\u3096\\u309D-\\u309F\\u30A1-\\u30FA\\u30FC-\\u30FF\\u3105-\\u312D\\u3131-\\u318E\\u31A0-\\u31BA\\u31F0-\\u31FF\\u3400-\\u4DB5\\u4E00-\\u9FCC\\uA000-\\uA48C\\uA4D0-\\uA4FD\\uA500-\\uA60C\\uA610-\\uA61F\\uA62A\\uA62B\\uA640-\\uA66E\\uA67F-\\uA69D\\uA6A0-\\uA6E5\\uA717-\\uA71F\\uA722-\\uA788\\uA78B-\\uA78E\\uA790-\\uA7AD\\uA7B0\\uA7B1\\uA7F7-\\uA801\\uA803-\\uA805\\uA807-\\uA80A\\uA80C-\\uA822\\uA840-\\uA873\\uA882-\\uA8B3\\uA8F2-\\uA8F7\\uA8FB\\uA90A-\\uA925\\uA930-\\uA946\\uA960-\\uA97C\\uA984-\\uA9B2\\uA9CF\\uA9E0-\\uA9E4\\uA9E6-\\uA9EF\\uA9FA-\\uA9FE\\uAA00-\\uAA28\\uAA40-\\uAA42\\uAA44-\\uAA4B\\uAA60-\\uAA76\\uAA7A\\uAA7E-\\uAAAF\\uAAB1\\uAAB5\\uAAB6\\uAAB9-\\uAABD\\uAAC0\\uAAC2\\uAADB-\\uAADD\\uAAE0-\\uAAEA\\uAAF2-\\uAAF4\\uAB01-\\uAB06\\uAB09-\\uAB0E\\uAB11-\\uAB16\\uAB20-\\uAB26\\uAB28-\\uAB2E\\uAB30-\\uAB5A\\uAB5C-\\uAB5F\\uAB64\\uAB65\\uABC0-\\uABE2\\uAC00-\\uD7A3\\uD7B0-\\uD7C6\\uD7CB-\\uD7FB\\uF900-\\uFA6D\\uFA70-\\uFAD9\\uFB00-\\uFB06\\uFB13-\\uFB17\\uFB1D\\uFB1F-\\uFB28\\uFB2A-\\uFB36\\uFB38-\\uFB3C\\uFB3E\\uFB40\\uFB41\\uFB43\\uFB44\\uFB46-\\uFBB1\\uFBD3-\\uFD3D\\uFD50-\\uFD8F\\uFD92-\\uFDC7\\uFDF0-\\uFDFB\\uFE70-\\uFE74\\uFE76-\\uFEFC\\uFF21-\\uFF3A\\uFF41-\\uFF5A\\uFF66-\\uFFBE\\uFFC2-\\uFFC7\\uFFCA-\\uFFCF\\uFFD2-\\uFFD7\\uFFDA-\\uFFDC";
  
  var rx = RegExp("(?:^|[^_0-9" + pL + "])(" + word + ")(?![_0-9" + pL + "])", "ig");                                  // Build the regex (might be moved out from the function)
  var words = [];
  while ((m = rx.exec(input)) !== null) {
      words.push(m[1]);                   // Add an occurrence
  }
  return words;
}

var word = "æøå";
var input = "æøå, AæøåZ, BæøåY, and æøå!";
document.body.innerHTML = "<pre>" + JSON.stringify(getWholeWords(input, word), 0, 4) + "</pre>";

Or a regex that will look for a word only if it is enclosed with whitespace/start/end of the string:

var re = new RegExp("(?:^|\\s)(" + pat.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&') + ")(?!\\S)", "g");

and grab Group 1 value.

Trouble with Regular Expression and special charters

1 Answers1