Wildcard string comparison in Javascript

Question

Let\'s say I have an array with many Strings Called \"birdBlue\", \"birdRed\" and some other animals like \"pig1\", \"pig2\"

Answer 1

This function convert wildcard to regexp and make test (it supports . and * wildcharts)

function wildTest(wildcard, str) {
  let w = wildcard.replace(/[.+^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&'); // regexp escape 
  const re = new RegExp(`^${w.replace(/\*/g,'.*').replace(/\?/g,'.')}$`,'i');
  return re.test(str); // remove last 'i' above to have case sensitive
}

function wildTest(wildcard, str) {
  let w = wildcard.replace(/[.+^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&'); // regexp escape 
  const re = new RegExp(`^${w.replace(/\*/g,'.*').replace(/\?/g,'.')}$`,'i');
  return re.test(str); // remove last 'i' above to have case sensitive
}


// Example usage

let arr = ["birdBlue", "birdRed", "pig1z", "pig2z", "elephantBlua" ];

let resultA = arr.filter( x => wildTest('biRd*', x) );
let resultB = arr.filter( x => wildTest('p?g?z', x) );
let resultC = arr.filter( x => wildTest('*Blu?', x) );

console.log('biRd*',resultA);
console.log('p?g?z',resultB);
console.log('*Blu?',resultC);

Answer 2

You should use RegExp (they are awesome) an easy solution is:

if( /^bird/.test(animals[i]) ){
    // a bird :D
}

Answer 3

I think you meant something like "*" (star) as a wildcard for example:

• "a*b" => everything that starts with "a" and ends with "b"
• "a*" => everything that starts with "a"
• "*b" => everything that ends with "b"
• "*a*" => everything that has an "a" in it
• "*a*b*"=> everything that has an "a" in it, followed by anything, followed by a "b", followed by anything

or in your example: "bird*" => everything that starts with bird

I had a similar problem and wrote a function with RegExp:

//Short code
function matchRuleShort(str, rule) {
  var escapeRegex = (str) => str.replace(/([.*+?^=!:${}()|\[\]\/\\])/g, "\\$1");
  return new RegExp("^" + rule.split("*").map(escapeRegex).join(".*") + "$").test(str);
}

//Explanation code
function matchRuleExpl(str, rule) {
  // for this solution to work on any string, no matter what characters it has
  var escapeRegex = (str) => str.replace(/([.*+?^=!:${}()|\[\]\/\\])/g, "\\$1");

  // "."  => Find a single character, except newline or line terminator
  // ".*" => Matches any string that contains zero or more characters
  rule = rule.split("*").map(escapeRegex).join(".*");

  // "^"  => Matches any string with the following at the beginning of it
  // "$"  => Matches any string with that in front at the end of it
  rule = "^" + rule + "$"

  //Create a regular expression object for matching string
  var regex = new RegExp(rule);

  //Returns true if it finds a match, otherwise it returns false
  return regex.test(str);
}

//Examples
alert(
    "1. " + matchRuleShort("bird123", "bird*") + "\n" +
    "2. " + matchRuleShort("123bird", "*bird") + "\n" +
    "3. " + matchRuleShort("123bird123", "*bird*") + "\n" +
    "4. " + matchRuleShort("bird123bird", "bird*bird") + "\n" +
    "5. " + matchRuleShort("123bird123bird123", "*bird*bird*") + "\n" +
    "6. " + matchRuleShort("s[pe]c 3 re$ex 6 cha^rs", "s[pe]c*re$ex*cha^rs") + "\n" +
    "7. " + matchRuleShort("should not match", "should noo*oot match") + "\n"
);

---

If you want to read more about the used functions:

• RegExp "^, ., *, $"
• string split("*")
• array join(".*")
• new RegExp(pattern[, flags])
• RegExpObject.test(string)

Answer 4

var searchArray = function(arr, str){
    // If there are no items in the array, return an empty array
    if(typeof arr === 'undefined' || arr.length === 0) return [];
    // If the string is empty return all items in the array
    if(typeof str === 'undefined' || str.length === 0) return arr;

    // Create a new array to hold the results.
    var res = [];

    // Check where the start (*) is in the string
    var starIndex = str.indexOf('*');

    // If the star is the first character...
    if(starIndex === 0) {

        // Get the string without the star.
        str = str.substr(1);
        for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {

            // Check if each item contains an indexOf function, if it doesn't it's not a (standard) string.
            // It doesn't necessarily mean it IS a string either.
            if(!arr[i].indexOf) continue;

            // Check if the string is at the end of each item.
            if(arr[i].indexOf(str) === arr[i].length - str.length) {                    
                // If it is, add the item to the results.
                res.push(arr[i]);
            }
        }
    }
    // Otherwise, if the star is the last character
    else if(starIndex === str.length - 1) {
        // Get the string without the star.
        str = str.substr(0, str.length - 1);
        for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
            // Check indexOf function                
            if(!arr[i].indexOf) continue;
            // Check if the string is at the beginning of each item
            if(arr[i].indexOf(str) === 0) {
                // If it is, add the item to the results.
                res.push(arr[i]);
            }
        }
    }
    // In any other case...
    else {            
        for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
            // Check indexOf function
            if(!arr[i].indexOf) continue;
            // Check if the string is anywhere in each item
            if(arr[i].indexOf(str) !== -1) {
                // If it is, add the item to the results
                res.push(arr[i]);
            }
        }
    }

    // Return the results as a new array.
    return res;
}

var birds = ['bird1','somebird','bird5','bird-big','abird-song'];

var res = searchArray(birds, 'bird*');
// Results: bird1, bird5, bird-big
var res = searchArray(birds, '*bird');
// Results: somebird
var res = searchArray(birds, 'bird');
// Results: bird1, somebird, bird5, bird-big, abird-song

There is an long list of caveats to a method like this, and a long list of 'what ifs' that are not taken into account, some of which are mentioned in other answers. But for a simple use of star syntax this may be a good starting point.

Fiddle

Answer 5

if(mas[i].indexOf("bird") == 0)
    //there is bird

You.can read about indexOf here: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_indexof.asp

Answer 6

Instead Animals == "bird*" Animals = "bird*" should work.