exec()  RegExp  instance method JS Home  <<  JS Reference  <<  RegExp  <<  exec()

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Description

Returns a result array, or null from an executed search in a specified string.

• If the match fails, the exec() method returns null.
• The returned array contains the matched text and then one element for each capturing parenthesis containing the text that was matched.
• Will advance past the previous match when called multiple times on the same regular expression.
• For efficiency use the RegExp.test() method if you are only interested in finding out whether a match exists.

Syntax

Parameters

Examples

The code below displays the exec() method on some string.

var aRegExp  = /(e{2,}(r))(e)/i;
var aString  = 'were only here for the beeeRe';
var bString  = 'oranges and lemons';
var execValues = new Array(2);

execValues[0] = 'Match found? ' + aRegExp.exec(aString) + '\n';
execValues[1] = 'Match found? ' + aRegExp.exec(bString);

alert(execValues);

Related Tutorials

JavaScript Intermediate Tutorials - Lesson 9 - Regular Expressions

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