JS how do I select a string from between two special characters?

Question

I have a string that will be formatted something like ___<test@email.com>____ where the underscores is irrelevant stuff I don't need but varys in length. I need to select and store what is between the brackets.

My problem is that all of the sub string solutions I have seen operate off of a hard integer location in the string. But the start and end of the substring I want to select (the brackets) will never be the same.

So I thought if I could use something to find the location of the brackets then feed that to a substring solution that would work. But all of the ways I have found of identifying special characters only reports if there are special characters, not where they are.

Thanks in advance!

Use a RegEx, they are the best solution for this kind of problem — Andrew Li, Jan 25 '17 at 22:06
Specifically, _capture groups_ with regex are extremely useful for such "string extraction" — qxz, Jan 25 '17 at 22:06

SethWhite · Answer 1 · 2017-01-25T22:26:42.917

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Here's a regex that should set you on your way.

let string = "asdf asdf asdf as <thing@stuff.com> jl;kj;l kj ;lkj ;lk j;lk";
let myMatches = string.match(/<.*>/g);
let myMatch = myMatches[0].slice(1).slice(0,-1);

The .match function returns an array of matches, so you can find multiple <stuff> entries.

There's probably a way to do it without the slicing, but that's all I've got for now.

edited Jan 25 '17 at 22:26

answered Jan 25 '17 at 22:10

SethWhite

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Thank you! I had heard about regular expressions but never used them till now! – David Richards Jan 25 '17 at 22:17

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

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based on this answer

var text = '___<test@email.com>____';

var values = text.split(/[<>]+/);

console.log(values); // your values should be at indexes 1, 3, 5, etc...

edited May 23 '17 at 12:16

Community

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answered Jan 25 '17 at 22:12

ymz

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I've found regex like mine to generally be slower, but yeah, who knows. Either way, nice answer. – SethWhite Jan 25 '17 at 22:15

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 25 '17 at 22:40

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With Regex:

var myRe = /<(.*)>/g;
var myArray = myRe.exec("____<asdf>___");
if (myArray)
    console.log(myArray[1]);

Regex test here

JSFiddle test here

answered Jan 25 '17 at 22:40

maraaaaaaaa

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JS how do I select a string from between two special characters?

3 Answers3