String.prototype.match()
The match()
method retrieves the matches when matching a string against a regular expression.
Syntax
str.match(regexp)
Parameters
regexp
-
一個正規表達式的物件。 若傳入一個非正規表達式的物件
obj
,則會視為傳入new RegExp(obj)
。若只呼叫match()
而沒有傳入任何參數,則會回傳內含一個空字串的陣列,即[""]
。
Return value
Description
If the regular expression does not include the g
flag, str.match()
will return the same result as RegExp.exec()
(en-US). The returned Array
has an extra input
property, which contains the original string that was parsed. In addition, it has an index
property, which represents the zero-based index of the match in the string.
If the regular expression includes the g
flag, the method returns an Array
containing all matched substrings rather than match objects. Captured groups are not returned. If there were no matches, the method returns null
.
See also: RegExp
methods
- If you need to know if a string matches a regular expression
RegExp
, useRegExp.test()
(en-US). - If you only want the first match found, you might want to use
RegExp.exec()
(en-US) instead. - if you want to obtain capture groups and the global flag is set, you need to use
RegExp.exec()
(en-US) instead.
Examples
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 upper/lower case differences will be ignored.
var str = 'For more information, see Chapter 3.4.5.1';
var re = /see (chapter \d+(\.\d)*)/i;
var found = str.match(re);
console.log(found);
// logs [ 'see Chapter 3.4.5.1',
// 'Chapter 3.4.5.1',
// '.1',
// index: 22,
// input: 'For more information, see Chapter 3.4.5.1' ]
// 'see Chapter 3.4.5.1' is the whole match.
// 'Chapter 3.4.5.1' was captured by '(chapter \d+(\.\d)*)'.
// '.1' was the last value captured by '(\.\d)'.
// The 'index' property (22) is the zero-based index of the whole match.
// The 'input' property is the original string that was parsed.
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);
console.log(matches_array);
// ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
Using match()
with no parameter
var str = "Nothing will come of nothing.";
str.match(); // returns [""]
A non-RegExp object as the parameter
When the parameter is a string or a number, it is implicitly converted to a RegExp
by using new RegExp(obj). If it is a positive number with a positive sign,the RegExp() method will ignore the positive sign.
var str1 = "NaN means not a number. Infinity contains -Infinity and +Infinity in JavaScript.",
str2 = "My grandfather is 65 years old and My grandmother is 63 years old.",
str3 = "The contract was declared null and void.";
str1.match("number"); // "number" is a string. returns ["number"]
str1.match(NaN); // the type of NaN is the number. returns ["NaN"]
str1.match(Infinity); // the type of Infinity is the number. returns ["Infinity"]
str1.match(+Infinity); // returns ["Infinity"]
str1.match(-Infinity); // returns ["-Infinity"]
str2.match(65); // returns ["65"]
str2.match(+65); // A number with a positive sign. returns ["65"]
str3.match(null); // returns ["null"]
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-string.prototype.match |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
Firefox-specific notes
flags
was a non standard second argument only available in Gecko : str.match(regexp, flags)- Starting with Gecko 27, this method has been adjusted to conform with the ECMAScript specification. When
match()
is called with a global regular expression, theRegExp.lastIndex
(en-US) property (if specified) will be reset to0
(Firefox bug 501739). - Starting with Gecko 39, the non-standard
flags
argument is deprecated and throws a console warning (Firefox bug 1142351). - Starting with Gecko 47, the non-standard
flags
argument is no longer supported in non-release builds and will soon be removed entirely (Firefox bug 1245801). - Starting with Gecko 49, the non-standard
flags
argument is no longer supported (Firefox bug 1108382).