regex allows one character (it should not) why?

Question

Hello I am trying to create a regex that recognizes money and numbers being inputted. I have to allow numbers because I am expecting non-formatted numbers to be inputted program

Answer 1

The "regular expression" you're using in your example script isn't a RegExp:

$(this).inputmask('Regex', { regex: "[\$]?([0-9,])*[\.][0-9]{2}" });

Rather, it's a String which contains a pattern which at some point is being converted into a true RegExp by your library using something along the lines of

var RE=!(value instanceof RegExp) ? new RegExp(value) : value;

Within Strings a backslash \ is used to represent special characters, like \n to represent a new-line. Adding a backslash to the beginning of a period, i.e. \., does nothing as there is no need to "escape" the period.

Thus, the RegExp being created from your String isn't seeing the backslash at all.

Instead of providing a String as your regular expression, use JavaScript's literal regular expression delimiters.

So rather than:

$(this).inputmask('Regex', { regex: "[\$]?([0-9,])*[\.][0-9]{2}" });

use

$(this).inputmask('Regex', { regex: /[\$]?([0-9,])*[\.][0-9]{2}/ });

And I believe your "regular expression" will perform as you expect.

(Note the use of forward slashes / to delimit your pattern, which JavaScript will use to provide a true RegExp.)