I need to check if a geohash string is valid, so I need to check if it's a base32 or not.
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Can you add some more content to this question, to show us what you've already tried to solve this problem, and what issues you've run into? – Rob Wilkins Dec 03 '18 at 21:29
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This answer is not perfect, but the better I've found https://stackoverflow.com/a/27362880/2093371 – hestellezg Jan 23 '21 at 06:49
3 Answers
2
Base32 uses A-Z and 2-7 for the encoding, and adds a padding character =
to get a multiple of 8 characters, so you can create a regex to see if the candidate string matches.
Using regex.exec
a matching string will return the match information, a non-matching string will return null
, so you can use an if
to test whether a match is true or false.
Base32 encodings also must always be a length that is a multiple of 8, and are padded with enough =
chars to make it so; you can check the length is correct by using mod 8
--
if (str.length % 8 === 0) { /* then ok */ }
// A-Z and 2-7 repeated, with optional `=` at the end
let b32_regex = /^[A-Z2-7]+=*$/;
var b32_yes = 'AJU3JX7ZIA54EZQ=';
var b32_no = 'klajcii298slja018alksdjl';
if (b32_yes.length % 8 === 0 &&
b32_regex.exec(b32_yes)) {
console.log("this one is base32");
}
else {
console.log("this one is NOT base32");
}
if (b32_no % 8 === 0 &&
b32_regex.exec(b32_no)) {
console.log("this one is base32");
}
else {
console.log("this one is NOT base32");
}

Stephen P
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Thanks @Zim — updated to include optional padding. Length checks could also be done, since the length must be a multiple of 8 `b32_yes % 8 === 0 and b32_regex.exec(...)` – Stephen P Dec 03 '18 at 20:42
2
function isBase32(input) {
const regex = /^([A-Z2-7=]{8})+$/
return regex.test(input)
}
console.log(isBase32('ABCDE23=')) //true
console.log(isBase32('aBCDE23=')) //false
console.log(isBase32('')) //false
console.log(isBase32()) //false
console.log(isBase32(null)) //false
console.log(isBase32('ABCDE567ABCDE2==')) //true
console.log(isBase32('NFGH@#$aBCDE23==')) //false
0
//I put together this little HTML & js button to mess around with.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Base32/Base64 Checker</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Base32/Base64 Checker</h1>
<label for="input">Enter a string:</label>
<input type="text" id="input" name="input"><br><br>
<button onclick="check()">Check</button>
<p id="result"></p>
<script>
function check() {
var input = document.getElementById("input").value;
var isBase32 = /^[A-Z2-7]+=*$/.test(input);
var isBase64 = /^[A-Za-z0-9+/]+=*$/i.test(input);
var result;
if (isBase32) {
result = "The input is Base32 encoded.";
} else if (isBase64) {
result = "The input is Base64 encoded.";
} else {
result = "Neither Base32 nor Base64 !.";
}
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML = result;
}
</script>
</body>
</html>

MarchonaX
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