regexp not matching variable

Daniel McLaughlin

I have the following code that matches just fine.

var re;
re = /23-Apr-2004/gi;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));

However, when I attempt it with a variable containing the same characters it
thows the error
"Object doesn't support this property or method" on the test line below.

var months = new
Array('Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','May','Jun','Jul','A ug','Sep','Oct','Nov','Dec
');
var now = new Date();
var today = now.getDate() + "-" + months[now.getMonth()] + "-" +
now.getYear();
today = "/"+today+"/gi";
var re;
re = today;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));

Can anyone tell me why this isn't working and perhaps a way around it?

Jul 23 '05 #1

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1403

Mick White

Daniel McLaughlin wrote:

I have the following code that matches just fine.

var re;
re = /23-Apr-2004/gi;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));

However, when I attempt it with a variable containing the same characters it
thows the error
"Object doesn't support this property or method" on the test line below.

var months = new
Array('Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','May','Jun','Jul','A ug','Sep','Oct','Nov','Dec
');
var now = new Date();
var today = now.getDate() + "-" + months[now.getMonth()] + "-" +
now.getYear();
today = "/"+today+"/gi";
the reg ex would be:
eval("/"+today+"/gi");
Personally, I would not name the variable "today"
var re;
re = today;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));
<body onload="alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));">
Mick
Can anyone tell me why this isn't working and perhaps a way around it?

Jul 23 '05 #2

Mark Szlazak

For dynamic or variable regular expressions you need to use the new
RegExp(pattern, modifiers) constructor not literals. The 'pattern' is
your 'today' string which leaves out those forward slashes, they're for
delimiting regular expression literals. This example should give you the
general idea.

var today = 'april' + '-' + '22' + '-' + '2004';
var rx = new RegExp(today, 'gi');

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Jul 23 '05 #3

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen

Mick White <mw******@rochester.rr.com> writes:

today = "/"+today+"/gi";

This just makes today a string, not a regexp ...
the reg ex would be:
eval("/"+today+"/gi");

I would recommend against using eval. Too many things can go wrong.
Use the RegExp constructor instead:
today = RegExp(today,"gi");

/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lr*@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleDOM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'

Jul 23 '05 #4

bruce

"Daniel McLaughlin" <ja********@denial.co.uk.nospam> wrote in message news:<10***************@news01.eclipse.net.uk>...

I have the following code that matches just fine.

var re;
re = /23-Apr-2004/gi;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));

However, when I attempt it with a variable containing the same characters it
thows the error
"Object doesn't support this property or method" on the test line below.

var months = new
Array('Jan','Feb','Mar','Apr','May','Jun','Jul','A ug','Sep','Oct','Nov','Dec
');
var now = new Date();
var today = now.getDate() + "-" + months[now.getMonth()] + "-" +
now.getYear();
today = "/"+today+"/gi";
var re;
re = today;
alert(re.test(document.all['thebody'].innerHTML));

Can anyone tell me why this isn't working and perhaps a way around it?

-----------------------------

You cannot define your regular expression dynamically as such:
reg="/" + "abc" + "/"

This just doesn't work. At least not for me.
It is NOT a string.

You would define it as just
reg=/abc/

If you want to dynamically construct a regular expression, use
regex = new RegExp (pattern)

In this last example, you can define your pattern dynamically.

Jul 23 '05 #5

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen wrote:

Use the RegExp constructor instead: ^^^^^^^^^^^ today = RegExp(today,"gi");

Although RegExp(x, y) is specified in ECMAScript 3 as a factory,

today = new RegExp(today, "gi");

is saner.
PointedEars

Jul 23 '05 #6

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn

bruce wrote:

You cannot define your regular expression dynamically as such:
reg="/" + "abc" + "/"

This just doesn't work. At least not for me.
For nobody. Atigs. (And that is good so.)
It is NOT a string.

That's why concatenation of strings does not create a RegExp object.
PointedEars

Jul 23 '05 #7

regexp not matching variable

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