Whole word search using RegExp

i want to do a whole word search...using this code:


<script>
x='mawmaw maw mawmaw'


regsearchtxt=new RegExp('\\W+maw\\W+','g')


if(x.search(regsearchtxt)!=-1){alert('h')}
</script>


and gladly it works...

but if used:

x='maw mawmaw'

it won't...using ^ might be the solution....but it solves the problem but creates bigger problems... same also for x='mawmaw maw'

any suggestions?

If you are trying to match 'maw' as a whole word (only) then you could use the \b switch (word boundary)


x = 'mawmaw maw maw'
y = x.replace(/[^A-z\s]/g,"") // delete non-alpha characters, retain spaces
if (/maw\b/gi.test(y.value)) {

thanks for the tip on word boundary...

i think this is the code:

regsearchtxt=new RegExp('\\bmaw\\b','g')

Yes. But depends on whether you want e.g. maw! maw? "maw" or just maw to return true.

hey...i think i need that maw! maw?
so should my code have...i think some additions like this:

regsearchtxt=new RegExp('\\b|\?|!maw\\b|\?|!','g')

In fact your regex
regsearchtxt=new RegExp('\\bmaw\\b','g')
will do fine.

It seems that \b ignores punctuation, quotes and ! ? symbols. I did not know this before, but in fact it makes sense, as otherwise maw! maw? maw. maw, and "maw" would return false.

hm..yah, i tried it, and those MAWs were working ,hahaha...thanks by the way

i'm just testing dis forum again

testing this forum:)