Core JavaScript 1.5 Reference:Global Objects:String:match

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Contents 1 Summary 2 Syntax 3 Parameters 4 Description 4.1 Notes 5 Additional Reading 6 Examples 6.1 Example: Using match 6.2 Example: Using global and ignore case flags with match

[edit] Summary

Used to retrieve the matches when matching a string against a regular expression.

Method of String
Implemented in:	JavaScript 1.2
ECMA Version:	ECMA-262, Edition 3

[edit] Syntax

match(regexp)

[edit] Parameters

regexp 

A regular expression object. If a non-RegExp object obj is passed, it is implicitly converted to a RegExp by using new RegExp(obj).

[edit] Description

If the regular expression does not include the g flag, returns the same result as regexp.exec(string).

If the regular expression includes the g flag, the method returns an Array containing all matches.

[edit] Notes

• If you need to know if a string matches a regular expression regexp, use regexp.test(string).
• If you only want the first match found, you might want to use regexp.exec(string) instead.

[edit] Additional Reading

• See §15.5.4.10 of the ECMA-262 specification.

[edit] Examples

[edit] Example: Using match

In the following example, match is used to find "Chapter" followed by 1 or more numeric characters followed by a decimal point and numeric character 0 or more times. The regular expression includes the i flag so that case will be ignored.

<script type="text/javascript">
str = "For more information, see Chapter 3.4.5.1";
re = /(chapter \d+(\.\d)*)/i;
found = str.match(re);
document.write(found);
</script>

This returns the array containing Chapter 3.4.5.1,Chapter 3.4.5.1,.1

"Chapter 3.4.5.1" is the first match and the first value remembered from (Chapter \d+(\.\d)*).

".1" is the second value remembered from (\.\d).

[edit] Example: Using global and ignore case flags with match

The following example demonstrates the use of the global and ignore case flags with match. All letters A through E and a through e are returned, each its own element in the array

var str = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
var regexp = /[A-E]/gi;
var matches_array = str.match(regexp);
document.write(matches_array);

matches_array now equals ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']