Question

We now know how to match a single digit. What if we want to match a whole number—a sequence of one or more digits?

When you put a plus sign ( + ) after something in a regular expression, it indicates that the element may be repeated more than once. Thus, /\d+/ matches one or more digit characters.

console.log(/'\d+'/.test("'123'"));
// → true
console.log(/'\d+'/.test("''"));
// → false
console.log(/'\d*'/.test("'123'"));
// → true
console.log(/'\d*'/.test("''"));
// → true

The star ( * ) has a similar meaning but also allows the pattern to match zero times. Something with a star after it never prevents a pattern from matching—it’ll just match zero instances if it can’t find any suitable text to match.

A question mark makes a part of a pattern “optional”, meaning it may occur zero or one time. In the following example, the u character is allowed to occur, but the pattern also matches when it is missing.

var neighbor = /neighbou?r/;
console.log(neighbor.test("neighbour"));
// → true
console.log(neighbor.test("neighbor"));
// → true

To indicate that a pattern should occur a precise number of times, use curly braces. Putting {4} after an element, for example, requires it to occur exactly four times. It is also possible to specify a range this way: {2,4} means the element must occur at least twice and at most four times.

Here is another version of the date and time pattern that allows both single- and double-digit days, months, and hours. It is also slightly more readable.

var dateTime = /\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}-\d{4} \d{1,2}:\d{2}/;
console.log(dateTime.test("30-1-2003 8:45"));
// → true

You can also specify open-ended ranges when using curly braces by omitting the number after the comma. So {5,} means five or more times.

This is a book about getting computers to do what you want them to do. Computers are about as common as screwdrivers today, but they contain a lot more hidden complexity and thus are harder to operate and understand. To many, they remain alien, slightly threatening things.