JavaScript RegExp Group (x|y)


Example

A global search for any of the alternatives red or green:

let text = "re, green, red, green, gren, gr, blue, yellow";
let pattern= /(red|green)/g;
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Description

The (x|y) expression is used to find any of the alternatives specified.

The alternatives can be of any characters.

Browser Support

/(x|y)/ is an ECMAScript1 (ES1) feature.

ES1 (JavaScript 1997) is fully supported in all browsers:

Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera IE
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Syntax

new RegExp("(x|y)")

or simply:

/(x|y)/

Syntax with modifiers

new RegExp("(x|y)", "g")

or simply:

/(x|y)/g


More Examples

Example

Do a global search to find any of the specified alternatives (0|5|7):

let text = "01234567890123456789";
let pattern = /(0|5|7)/g;
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Regular Expression Search Methods

In JavaScript, a regular expression text search, can be done with different methods.

With a pattern as a regular expression, these are the most common methods:

ExampleDescription
text.match(pattern)The String method match()
text.search(pattern)The String method search()
pattern.exec(text)The RexExp method exec()
pattern.test(text)The RegExp method test()

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