Javascript URL Regex issues

Question

I use this regex for URL's:

var re = /^(http[s]?:\/\/){0,1}(www\.){0,1}[a-zA-Z0-9\.\-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,5}[\.]{0,1}/;

However, it seems to only be matching URL's that are alone. If you add a URL to an already typed message, it won't match:

Test message: www.google.com

Won't match. How do I make it match URL's no matter what's included with them?

{0,1} should be ?. Further you should keep international domains and long top-level domains like .berlin in mind. — Kijewski
– Kijewski, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 2:36
-1: If you're going to use regular expressions you should at least have some clue how they work. At least the basics. — Brad Mace
– Brad Mace, Commented Jul 14, 2011 at 2:38

Nicole · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-14 02:32:40Z

1

It's because the ^ character at the beginning of the expression means "match the beginning of the string" (in other words, what you have is a starts-with search). Remove that and it will match anywhere in the test string.

var re = /(http[s]?:\/\/){0,1}(www\.){0,1}[a-zA-Z0-9\.\-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,5}[\.]{0,1}/;

answered Jul 14, 2011 at 2:32

Nicole

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Josh Leitzel · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-14 02:33:23Z

0

That's simply because you're using the caret symbol (^). That means "only match the start of input." Remove that and you should get what you want.

answered Jul 14, 2011 at 2:33

Josh Leitzel

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