How to put variable in regular expression match?
You need to use the RegExp
constructor instead of a regex literal.
var string = 'asdgghjjkhkh';
var string2 = 'a';
var regex = new RegExp( string2, 'g' );
string.match(regex);
If you didn't need the global modifier, then you could just pass string2
, and .match()
will create the regex for you.
string.match( string2 );
If you are merely looking to check whether a string contains another string, then your best bet is simply to use match()
without a regex.
You may object: But I need a regex to check for classes, like \s
, to define complicated patterns, etc..
In that case: You will need change the syntax even more, double-escaping your classes and dropping starting/ending /
regex indicator symbols.
Imagine this regex...
someString.match(/\bcool|tubular\b);
The exact equivalent of this, when using a new new RegExp()
, is...
someStringRegex = new RegExp('\\bcool|tubular\\b');
Two things happened in this transition:
- Drop the opening and closing
/
(otherwise, your regex will fail). - Double escape your character classes, like
\b
becomes\\b
for word borders, and\w
becomes\\w
for whitespace, etc. (otherwise, your regex will fail).