RegExp in js example needed

Question

I want to extract this "SD" from text "SouthDacota (SD)" in Javascript. I am newbie to regex in js and wanted to know if any one has any ideas.

@8GB, Do go through some regex tutorials. Big part of utilizing regular expressions is to understand your data range as well as what you want to accomplish. Will (<letter><letter>) always be your format? Will it always be at the end of the string? Will it be 2 and only 2 letters? Or are you simply matching the letters SD inside of paranthesis? ... — cbayram
– cbayram, Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 21:13
/(SD)/, /(sD)/i, /$(SD)$/, /(SD)\)$/, /^.+$(SD)$$/ will all match your situation but what is best? This is what I mean. — cbayram
– cbayram, Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 21:19
@ Ben Swinburne I used this "((\w{2})?)" donest help though. @cbayram basically the text can change what I need is to extract whats inside of "()". — 8GB
– 8GB, Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 21:22
@8GB Then what m.buettner gave you should suffice. Only changes I'd make is to make it case-insensitive and not make the parentheses part of the match. /$([A-Z]{2})$/i — cbayram
– cbayram, Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 21:26

Martin Ender · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-07 21:34:23Z

2

The simplest regex would match the parentheses, and in between two upper-case letters. In addition you can "capture" the two letters (with unescaped parentheses), so you can retrieve them without the parentheses:

var regex = /\(([A-Z]{2})\)/;
var matches = inputString.match(regex);
var stateCode = matches[1];

But you should really read up on some basics.

edited Nov 7, 2012 at 21:34

answered Nov 7, 2012 at 21:13

Martin Ender

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5 Comments

Beardy Over a year ago

This could also be shortened to var stateCode = /$[A-Z]{2}$/.exec(input)[1];

Daniel Calliess Over a year ago

And there's more than one good tool out there that let's you immediately test what you are doing.

Martin Ender Over a year ago

@Beardy yes, but for beginner questions I prefer the unoptimized versions that tell a bit more about the workings of the code.

cbayram Over a year ago

@m.buettner, good answer, given the question you should match the "SD" and not "(SD)" though

Martin Ender Over a year ago

@cbayram sorry I forgot the capturing parentheses when copying the code from Chrome's developer tools ;).

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