How to test valid UUID/GUID?

If you are using Node.js for development, it is recommended to use a package called Validator. It includes all the regexes required to validate different versions of UUID's plus you get various other functions for validation.

Here is the npm link: Validator

var a = 'd3aa88e2-c754-41e0-8ba6-4198a34aa0a2'
v.isUUID(a)
true
v.isUUID('abc')
false
v.isNull(a)
false

regex to the rescue

/^[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}$/.test('01234567-9ABC-DEF0-1234-56789ABCDEF0');

or with brackets

/^\{?[0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}‌​\}?$/

Currently, UUID's are as specified in RFC4122. An often neglected edge case is the NIL UUID, noted here. The following regex takes this into account and will return a match for a NIL UUID. See below for a UUID which only accepts non-NIL UUIDs. Both of these solutions are for versions 1 to 5 (see the first character of the third block).

Therefore to validate a UUID...

/^[0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[0-5][0-9a-f]{3}-[089ab][0-9a-f]{3}-[0-9a-f]{12}$/i

...ensures you have a canonically formatted UUID that is Version 1 through 5 and is the appropriate Variant as per RFC4122.

NOTE: Braces { and } are not canonical. They are an artifact of some systems and usages.

Easy to modify the above regex to meet the requirements of the original question.

HINT: regex group/captures

To avoid matching NIL UUID:

/^[0-9a-f]{8}-[0-9a-f]{4}-[1-5][0-9a-f]{3}-[89ab][0-9a-f]{3}-[0-9a-f]{12}$/i

If you want to check or validate a specific UUID version, here are the corresponding regexes.

Note that the only difference is the version number, which is explained in 4.1.3. Version chapter of UUID 4122 RFC.

The version number is the first character of the third group : [VERSION_NUMBER][0-9A-F]{3} :

• UUID v1 :

  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[1][0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i
  

• UUID v2 :

  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[2][0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i
  

• UUID v3 :

  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[3][0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i
  

• UUID v4 :

  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[4][0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i
  

• UUID v5 :

  /^[0-9A-F]{8}-[0-9A-F]{4}-[5][0-9A-F]{3}-[89AB][0-9A-F]{3}-[0-9A-F]{12}$/i