VerbalExpressions

JavaScript Regular Expressions made easy

VerbalExpressions is a JavaScript library that helps construct difficult regular expressions.

How to get started

In the browser

<script src="VerbalExpressions.js"></script>

Or use the jsDelivr CDN.

On the server (node.js)

Install:

npm install verbal-expressions

Require:

const VerEx = require('verbal-expressions');

Or use ES6's import:

import VerEx from 'verbal-expressions';

Running tests

npm test

(or)

npm run test:verbose

Creating a minified version

npm run build

This will run Babel on VerbalExpressions.js and output the result to dist/verbalexpressions.js. A minified version of the same will also be written to dist/verbalexpressions.min.js.

A source map will also be created in dist, so you can use the original "un-babelified", unminified source file for debugging purposes.

Building the docs/ folder

The docs/ folder uses Jekyll for building the static HTML and is hosted at gh-pages.

To install the Ruby dependencies, run:

cd docs/
bundle install

This installs all needed Ruby dependencies locally

After you've installed dependencies, you can run:

bundle exec jekyll build

This builds all static files to docs/_site/ folder.

If you want to develop the files locally, you can run:

bundle exec jekyll serve

This starts a local development web server and starts watching your files for changes.

API documentation

You can find the API documentation at verbalexpressions.github.io/JSVerbalExpressions. You can find the source code for the docs in docs.

Examples

Here are some simple examples to give an idea of how VerbalExpressions works:

Testing if we have a valid URL

// Create an example of how to test for correctly formed URLs
const tester = VerEx()
    .startOfLine()
    .then('http')
    .maybe('s')
    .then('://')
    .maybe('www.')
    .anythingBut(' ')
    .endOfLine();

// Create an example URL
const testMe = 'https://www.google.com';

// Use RegExp object's native test() function
if (tester.test(testMe)) {
    alert('We have a correct URL'); // This output will fire
} else {
    alert('The URL is incorrect');
}

console.log(tester); // Outputs the actual expression used: /^(http)(s)?(\:\/\/)(www\.)?([^\ ]*)$/

Replacing strings

// Create a test string
const replaceMe = 'Replace bird with a duck';

// Create an expression that seeks for word "bird"
const expression = VerEx().find('bird');

// Execute the expression like a normal RegExp object
const result = expression.replace(replaceMe, 'duck');

// Outputs "Replace duck with a duck"
alert(result);

Shorthand for string replace

const result = VerEx().find('red').replace('We have a red house', 'blue');

// Outputs "We have a blue house"
alert(result);

Contributions

Pull requests are warmly welcome!

Clone the repo and fork:

git clone https://github.com/VerbalExpressions/JSVerbalExpressions.git

Style guide

The Airbnb style guide is loosely used as a basis for creating clean and readable JavaScript code. Check .eslintrc.

Check out these slide decks for handy Github & git tips:

• Git and Github Secrets
• More Git and Github Secrets

Tools

• https://verbalregex.com - it's a wrapper of JSVerbalExpressions; users can write down the code and compile to regex
• https://jsbin.com/metukuzowi/edit?js,console - JSBin Playground

Other Implementations

You can see an up to date list of all ports on VerbalExpressions.github.io.

• Ruby
• C#
• Python
• Java
• Groovy
• PHP
• Haskell
• Haxe
• C++
• Objective-C
• Perl
• Swift

If you would like to contribute another port (which would be awesome!), please open an issue specifying the language in the VerbalExpressions/implementation repo. Please don't open PRs for other languages against this repo.

Similar projects

Here's a list of other similar projects that implement regular expression builders:

• https://github.com/MaxArt2501/re-build
• https://github.com/mathiasbynens/regenerate