Flash / Flex / ActionScript/Regular Expressions/Match

Create a global regex to match multiple times in a string

 

package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:RegExp = /abc/g;
        
        var result:Array = example.exec( "abc abc" );
        trace( result.index );
        trace( example.lastIndex );
    }
  }
}

Create a global regular expression that matches three-letter words

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var regex:RegExp = /\b[a-z]{3}\b/g;
        var sentence:String = "This string has two three letter words.";
        trace( sentence.search( regex ) );
        trace( regex.lastIndex );
        trace( sentence.search( regex ) );
    }
  }
}

Create a pattern to match against a string

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:RegExp = /abc/;
        trace( example.test( "A string with abc in it" ) );
        trace( example.test( "abc" ) );
        trace( example.test( "Another string to test against..." ) );
    }
  }
}

Create a regular expression that matches three-letter words

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:RegExp = /\b[a-z]{3}\b/g;
        var target:String = "This string has two three letter words";
        
        var result:Array;
        while ( ( result = example.exec( target ) ) != null ) {
          trace( result );
        }
    }
  }
}

Creating a Nongreedy Pattern

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:String = "<b>hello</b>, world!";
        trace( example.match( /<.*>/g ) );
    }
  }
}

Force the last index to be past the first matching position

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var regex:RegExp = /\b[a-z]{3}\b/g;
        var sentence:String = "This string has two three letter words.";
        
        trace( sentence.search( regex ) );
        trace( regex.lastIndex );
        trace( sentence.search( regex ) );
        regex.lastIndex = 13;
        trace( sentence.search( regex ) );
        trace( regex.lastIndex );
    }
  }
}

Looking for Pattern Matches

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:String = "ActionScript 3 Cookbook";
        trace( example.search( /script/i ) );
        trace( example.search( /script/ ) );
    }
  }
}

Return simply whether the string matches the pattern at all.

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var phoneNumberPattern:RegExp = /\d\d\d-\d\d\d-\d\d\d\d/;
        trace(phoneNumberPattern.test("347-222-2225")); //true
        trace(phoneNumberPattern.test("Call 800-123-4567 now!")); //true
        trace(phoneNumberPattern.test("Call now!")); //false
    }
  }
}

Trace the index

 
package{
  import flash.display.Sprite;
  
  public class Main extends Sprite{
    public function Main(){
        var example:RegExp = /abc/;
        var result:Array = example.exec( "A string with abc in it" );
        
        trace( result );
        trace( result.index );
        
        result = example.exec( "A string with no match" );
        
        trace( result );
    }
  }
}