SyntaxError: numbers out of order in {} quantifier.

The JavaScript exception "numbers out of order in {} quantifier" occurs when a quantifier in a regular expression uses the {n,m} syntax but m is less than n.

Message

SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: /1{2,1}/: numbers out of order in {} quantifier (V8-based)
SyntaxError: numbers out of order in {} quantifier. (Firefox)
SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: numbers out of order in {} quantifier (Safari)

Error type

What went wrong?

The {n,m} syntax in a regular expression is used to specify that the preceding item is to be matched at least n times, but not more than m times. If m is less than n, the quantifier is nonsensical because, for example, a character cannot appear at least 2 times but not more than 1 time. Therefore, an error is thrown.

Examples

Invalid examples

js
/1{2,1}/;

Valid examples

js
/1{1,2}/;

See also