match

Summary

Matches a string with a regular expression, and returns an array containing the results of that search.

Syntax

stringObj.match( rgExp )

stringObj

Required. The String object or string literal on which to perform the search.

rgExp

Required. A regular expression object that contains the regular expression pattern and applicable flags. This can also be a variable name or string literal containing the regular expression pattern and flags.

Examples

The following example illustrates the use of the match method.

var src = "azcafAJAC";

 var re = /[a-c]/;

 var result = src.match(re);

 // The entire match is in array element 0.
 document.write(result[0] + "<br/>");

 // Now try the same match with the global flag.
 var reg = /[a-c]/g;
 result = src.match(reg);


 // The matches are in elements 0 through n.
 for (var index = 0; index < result.length; index++)
 {
     document.write ("submatch " + index + ": " +  result[index]);
     document.write("<br />");
 }

Remarks

If the match method does not find a match, it returns null. If it finds a match, match returns an array, and the properties of the global RegExp object are updated to reflect the results of the match.

The array returned by the match method has three properties, input , index and lastIndex. The input property contains the entire searched string. The index property contains the position of the matched substring within the complete searched string. The lastIndex property contains the position following the last character in the last match.

If the global flag ( g ) is not set, Element zero of the array contains the entire match, while elements 1 through n contain any submatches. This behavior is the same as the behavior of the exec Method (Regular Expression) when the global flag is not set. If the global flag is set, elements 0 through n contain all matches that occurred.

If the flag i is set, the search is not case-sensitive.

See also

Other articles

• exec Method (Regular Expression)
• RegExp Object
• Regular Expression Object
• replace Method (String)
• search Method (String)
• test Method (Regular Expression)

Attributions

• Microsoft Developer Network: Article