RegEx to extract all matches from string using RegExp.exec

Question

I\'m trying to parse the following kind of string:

[key:\"val\" key2:\"val2\"]

where there are arbitrary key:\"val\" pairs inside. I want t

Answer 1

If you have ES9

(Meaning if your system: Chrome, Node.js, Firefox, etc supports Ecmascript 2019 or later)

Use the new yourString.matchAll( /your-regex/ ).

If you don't have ES9

If you have an older system, here's a function for easy copy and pasting

function findAll(regexPattern, sourceString) {
    let output = []
    let match
    // make sure the pattern has the global flag
    let regexPatternWithGlobal = RegExp(regexPattern,[...new Set("g"+regexPattern.flags)].join(""))
    while (match = regexPatternWithGlobal.exec(sourceString)) {
        // get rid of the string copy
        delete match.input
        // store the match data
        output.push(match)
    } 
    return output
}

example usage:

console.log(   findAll(/blah/g,'blah1 blah2')   ) 

outputs:

[ [ 'blah', index: 0 ], [ 'blah', index: 6 ] ]