Regular expression [Any number]

Question

I need to test for \"[any number]\" in a string in javascript. how would i match it?

Oh, \"[\" and \"]\" also need to be matched.

so string like \"[1]\" or \"[1

Answer 1

You can use the following function to find the biggest [number] in any string.

It returns the value of the biggest [number] as an Integer.

var biggestNumber = function(str) {
    var pattern = /\[([0-9]+)\]/g, match, biggest = 0;

    while ((match = pattern.exec(str)) !== null) {
        if (match.index === pattern.lastIndex) {
            pattern.lastIndex++;
        }
        match[1] = parseInt(match[1]);
        if(biggest < match[1]) {
            biggest = match[1];
        }
    }
    return biggest;
}

---

DEMO

The following demo calculates the biggest number in your textarea every time you click the button.

It allows you to play around with the textarea and re-test the function with a different text.

var biggestNumber = function(str) {
    var pattern = /\[([0-9]+)\]/g, match, biggest = 0;

    while ((match = pattern.exec(str)) !== null) {
        if (match.index === pattern.lastIndex) {
            pattern.lastIndex++;
        }
        match[1] = parseInt(match[1]);
        if(biggest < match[1]) {
            biggest = match[1];
        }
    }
    return biggest;
}

document.getElementById("myButton").addEventListener("click", function() {
    alert(biggestNumber(document.getElementById("myTextArea").value));
});

    this is a test [1] also this [2] is a test
and again [18] this is a test. 
items[14].items[29].firstname too is a test!
items[4].firstname too is a test!
    



   Try me

See also this Fiddle!