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Dynamically compare accuracy of regex patterns for match

Supposing I have two regexes and both match a string, but one of them matches it in a stricter way, is there a way to figure that out programmatically?
For example, I'm matching this string:
/path/on/file/system
and I have the following two regular expressions:
const opt1 = /\/path\/on/;
const opt2 = /\/path/;
I can see with my eyes that opt1 is stricter, but how can javascript know about that?
Is converting the regex to a string and checking for character length a good measure of strictness?

You can implement this function by:
Sorting your regular expressions by length.
loop through your sorted regular expressions array to check if there is a match
then return the most strict matching element.
function check(arrayOfRegEx, str) {
//sort the regex array by length
var sortedArr = arrayOfRegEx.sort(function(a, b) {
return a.toString().length - b.toString().length || a.toString().localeCompare(b);
});
let mostStrict = '';
sortedArr.forEach(function(reg) {
if(new RegExp((reg.toString()).replace(/\\/g, "").substring(1)).test(str)) {
mostStrict = reg;
}
});
return mostStrict;
}
var result = check([/\/path/, /\/test\/test/, /\/path\/on/], '/path/on/file/system');
console.log(result); // returns /\/path\/on/
And of course you can tweak this function to fit your needs

How to replace strings and get what I need in this case?

I am trying to replace a string with two sets of patterns. For example,
var pattern1 = '12345abcde/'; -> this is dynamic.
var myString = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item'
my end goal is to get the value between two slashes which is hd123
I have
var stringIneed = myString.replace(pattern1, '').replace('godaddy_item','');
The above codes work but I think there is more elegant solution. Can anyone help me out on this? Thanks a lot!
UPDATE:
To be more clear, the pattern is per environement string. For example,
pattern1 could be something like:
https://myproject-development/item on development environment.
and
https://myproject/item on Production
myString could usually be like
https://myproject/item/hd123/godaddy_item
or
https://myproject-development/item/hd123/godaddy_item
and I need to get 'hd123' in my case.

I'd strongly suggest not using regular expressions for this, especially when simple String and Array methods will easily suffice and be far more understandable, such as:
// your question shows you can anticipate the sections you
// don't require, so put both/all of those portions into an
// array:
var unwanted = ['12345abcde', 'godaddy_item'],
// the string you wish to find the segment from:
myString = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item',
// splitting the String into an array by splitting on the '/'
// characters, filtering that array using an arrow function
// in which the section is the current array-element of the
// array over which we're iterating; and here we keep those
// sections which are not found in the unwanted Array (the index
// an element not found in an Array is returned as -1):
desired = myString.split('/').filter(section => unwanted.indexOf(section) === -1);
console.log(desired); // ["hd123"]
Avoiding Arrow functions, for browsers not supporting ES6 (and having removed the code comments):
var unwanted = ['12345abcde', 'godaddy_item'],
myString = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item',
desired = myString.split('/').filter(function (section) {
return unwanted.indexOf(section) === -1;
});
console.log(desired); // ["hd123"]
Or:
// the string to start with and filter:
var myString = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item',
// splitting the string by the '/' characters and keeping those whose
// index is greater than 0 (so 'not the first') and also less than the
// length of the array-1 (since JS arrays are zero-indexed while length
// is 1-based):
wanted = myString.split('/').filter((section, index, array) => index > 0 && index < array.length - 1);
console.log(wanted); // ["hd123"]
JS Fiddle demo
If, however, the requisite string to be found is always the penultimate portion of the supplied string, then we can use Array.prototype.filter() to return only that portion:
var myString = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item',
wanted = myString.split('/').filter((section, index, array) => index === array.length - 2);
console.log(wanted); // ["hd123"]
JS Fiddle demo.
References:
Array.prototype.filter().
Arrow functions.
String.prototype.split().

You can use
.*\/([^\/]+)\/.*$
Regex Demo
JS Demo
var re = /.*\/([^\/]+)\/.*$/g;
var str = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item';
while ((m = re.exec(str)) !== null) {
document.writeln("<pre>" + m[1] + "</br>" + "</pre>");
}

You can easily do something like this:
myString.split('/').slice(-2)[0]
This will return the item directly, in simple most way.
var myString = 'https://myproject/item/hd123/godaddy_item';
console.log(myString.split('/').slice(-2)[0]); // hd123
myString = 'https://myproject-development/item/hd123/godaddy_item';
console.log(myString.split('/').slice(-2)[0]); // hd123

Try using match() as shown below:
var re = /\/(.*)\//;
var str = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item';
var result = str.match(re);
alert(result[1]);

To say that David's answer will "easily suffice and be far more understandable" is a matter of opinion - this regex option (which includes building up the expression from variables) really couldn't be much simpler:
var pathPrefix = '12345abcde/'; //dynamic
var pathToTest = '12345abcde/hd123/godaddy_item';
var pattern = new RegExp(pathPrefix + '(.*?)\/')
var match = pattern.exec(pathToTest);
var result = (match != null && match[1] != null ? '[' + match[1] + ']' : 'no match was found.'); //[hd123]

Regex - Regular expression pattern failing on URL GET parameter

I'm trying to do a URL GET variable replace, however the regular expression for checking whether the variable exists in amongst other GET variables is returning true when I am expecting it to return false.
The pattern I am using is: &sort=.*&
Test URL: http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=asc
Am I right to believe that this pattern should be returning false on the basis that their is no ampersand character following the sort parameter's value?
Full code:
var sort = getOptionValue($(this).attr('id'));
var url = document.URL;
if(url.indexOf('?') == -1) {
url = url+'?sort='+sort;
} else {
if(url.search('/&sort=.*&/i')) {
url.replace('/&sort=.*&/i','&sort='+sort+'&');
}
else if(url.search('/&sort=.*/i')) {
url.replace('/&sort=.*/i','&sort='+sort);
}
}

Am I right to believe that this pattern should be returning false on the basis that their is no ampersand character following the sort parameter's value?
Well, you are using String.search, which, according to the linked documentation:
If successful, search returns the index of the regular expression inside the string. Otherwise, it returns -1.
So it will return -1, or 0 or greater when there is a match. So you should test for -1, not truthiness.
Also, there is no need to pass the regexes as strings, you might as well use:
url.replace(/&sort=.*&/i,'&sort='+sort+'&');
Further, keep in mind that replace will create a new string, not replace in the string (strings in Javascript are immutable).
Finally, I don't see the need for searching for the string, and then replacing it -- it seems that you always want to replace &sort=SOMETHING with &sort=SOMETHING_ELSE, so just do that:
if(url.indexOf('?') == -1) {
url = url+'?sort='+sort;
} else {
url = url.replace(/&sort=[^&]*/i, '&sort=' + sort);
}

The javascript string function search() returns -1 if not found, not false. Your code should read:
if(url.search('/&sort=.*&/i') != -1) {
url.replace('/&sort=.*&/i','&sort='+sort+'&');
}
else if(url.search('/&sort=.*/i') != -1) {
url.replace('/&sort=.*/i','&sort='+sort);
}

You should check
if(url.search('/&sort=.*&/i') >= 0)
then it should work

You could use this code
var url = 'http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=asc';
var vars = {};
var parts = url.replace(/[?&]+([^=&]+)=([^&]*)/gi, function(m,key,value) {
vars[key] = value;
});
console.log(vars);
//vars is an object with two properties: location and sort

This can be done by using
url.replace(/([?&])(sort=)([^&?]*)/, "$1$2" + sort);
The match broken down
Group 1 matches for ? or &
Group 2 matches sort=
Group 3 matches anything that is not a & or ?
Then "$1$2" + sort will replace all 3 group matches with the first 2 + your variable
examples using string "REPLACE" instead of your sort variable
url = "http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=asc&a=z"
url.replace(/([?&])(sort=)([^&?]*)/, "$1$2" + "REPLACE");
// => "http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=REPLACE&a=z"
url = "http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=asc"
url.replace(/([?&])(sort=)([^&?]*)/, "$1$2" + "REPLACE");
// => "http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=REPLACE"
url = "http://localhost/search?sort=asc"
url.replace(/([?&])(sort=)([^&?]*)/, "$1$2" + "REPLACE");
// => "http://localhost/search?sort=REPLACE"
url = "http://localhost/search?sort=asc&z=y"
url.replace(/([?&])(sort=)([^&?]*)/, "$1$2" + "REPLACE");
// => "http://localhost/search?sort=REPLACE&z=y"

The pattern I am using is: &sort=.*& Test URL:
http://localhost/search?location=any&sort=asc
Am I right to believe that this pattern should be returning false on
the basis that their is no ampersand character following the sort
parameter's value?
you are assuming right. But in your code you have else if(url.search('/&sort=.*/i')) which will match and thus still replace the value.
You should also note that your code would turn http://localhost/search?sort=asc&location=any&some=more into http://localhost/search?sort=asc&some=more. that's because because .* is greedy (trying to match as much as possible). You can avoid that by telling it to match as little as possible by appending a ? like so .*?.
That said, I believe you may be better off with a library that knows how URLs actually work. You're not compensating for parameter position, possible escaped values etc. I suggest you have a look at URI.js and replace your wicked regex with
var uri = URI(document.URL),
data = uri.query(true);
data.foo = 'bazbaz';
uri.query(data);

Why does this jQuery code not work?

Why doesn't the following jQuery code work?
$(function() {
var regex = /\?fb=[0-9]+/g;
var input = window.location.href;
var scrape = input.match(regex); // returns ?fb=4
var numeral = /\?fb=/g;
scrape.replace(numeral,'');
alert(scrape); // Should alert the number?
});
Basically I have a link like this:
http://foo.com/?fb=4
How do I first locate the ?fb=4 and then retrieve the number only?

Consider using the following code instead:
$(function() {
var matches = window.location.href.match(/\?fb=([0-9]+)/i);
if (matches) {
var number = matches[1];
alert(number); // will alert 4!
}
});
Test an example of it here: http://jsfiddle.net/GLAXS/
The regular expression is only slightly modified from what you provided. The global flag was removed, as you're not going to have multiple fb='s to match (otherwise your URL will be invalid!). The case insensitive flag flag was added to match FB= as well as fb=.
The number is wrapped in curly brackets to denote a capturing group which is the magic which allows us to use match.
If match matches the regular expression we specify, it'll return the matched string in the first array element. The remaining elements contain the value of each capturing group we define.
In our running example, the string "?fb=4" is matched and so is the first value of the returned array. The only capturing group we have defined is the number matcher; which is why 4 is contained in the second element.

If you all you need is to grab the value of fb, just use capturing parenthesis:
var regex = /\?fb=([0-9]+)/g;
var input = window.location.href;
var tokens = regex.exec(input);
if (tokens) { // there's a match
alert(tokens[1]); // grab first captured token
}

So, you want to feed a querystring and then get its value based on parameters?
I had had half a mind to offer Get query string values in JavaScript.
But then I saw a small kid abusing a much respectful Stack Overflow answer.
// Revised, cooler.
function getParameterByName(name) {
var match = RegExp('[?&]' + name + '=([^&]*)')
.exec(window.location.search);
return match ?
decodeURIComponent(match[1].replace(/\+/g, ' '))
: null;
}
And while you are at it, just call the function like this.
getParameterByName("fb")

How about using the following function to read the query string parameter in JavaScript:
function getQuerystring(key, default_) {
if (default_==null)
default_="";
key = key.replace(/[\[]/,"\\\[").replace(/[\]]/,"\\\]");
var regex = new RegExp("[\\?&]"+key+"=([^&#]*)");
var qs = regex.exec(window.location.href);
if(qs == null)
return default_;
else
return qs[1];
}
and then:
alert(getQuerystring('fb'));

If you are new to Regex, why not try Program that illustrates the ins and outs of Regular Expressions

How to extract a text using regex?

My Text
1618148163###JASSER-PC#-#1125015374###anas kayyat#-#1543243035###anas kayyat#-#
Result Should Be:
JASSER-PC
anas kayyat
anas kayyat
I am using :
(?<=###)(.+)(?=#-#)
But it gives me that :
JASSER-PC#-#1125015374###anas kayyat#-#1543243035###anas kayyat

JavaScript’s regular expressions don’t support look-behind assertions (i.e. (?<=…) and (?<!…)), so you can’t use that regular expression. But you can use this:
###(.+)(?=#-#)
Then just take the matched string of the first group. Additionally, to only match as little as possible, make the + quantifier non-greedy by using +?.

The group (.+) will match as much as it can (it's "greedy"). To make it find a minimal match you can use (.+?).

JavaScript does not support lookbehinds. Make the quantifier non greedy, and use:
var regex = /###(.+?)#-#/g;
var strings = [];
var result;
while ((result = regex.exec(input)) != null) {
strings.push(result[1]);
}

I'll give you a non-regex answer, since using regular expressions isn't always appropriate, be it speed or readibility of the regex itself:
function getText(text) {
var arr = text.split("###"); // arr now contains [1618148163,JASSER-PC#-#1125015374,anas kayyat#-#1543243035,anas kayyat#-#]
var newarr = [];
for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
var index = arr[i].indexOf("#-#");
if(index != -1) { // if an array element doesn't contain "#-#", we ignore it
newarr.push(arr[i].substring(0, index));
}
}
return newarr;
}
Now, using
getText("1618148163###JASSER-PC#-#1125015374###anas kayyat#-#1543243035###anas kayyat#-#");
returns what you wanted.