Javascript Regular Expression (RegExp) Multiline Flag Not Universal

Posted May 11, 2006 at 8:18 AM

Tags: Javascript / DHTML

I was debugging some code and I just came accross a very interesting fact: the "m" flag for multiline searches in Regular Expression (RegExp) is not universal. It only works on newer browsers and not all of them for that matter. On this Javascript Site, it states that all searches work for multiline without the flag and that the "m" flag will indeed throw errors in older browsers (as I am finding in my debugging... stupid Mac IE).

So, to drive it home, this is not good:

 Launch code in new window » Download code as text file »

  • new RegExp("[\\n\\r]+", "gim")

And should be replaced with:

 Launch code in new window » Download code as text file »

  • new RegExp("[\\n\\r]+", "gi")

Both of these are searching for new line characters and returns across multiple lines; however, only the latter works in all browsers and is more "correct" for Javascript.

Download Code Snippet ZIP File

Post Comment  |  Ask Ben  |  Permalink  |  Other Searches  |  Print Page





Reader Comments

There are no comments posted for this web log entry.


Post Comment  |  Ask Ben

Recent Blog Comments
Justice
Nov 21, 2009 at 1:13 PM
My First ColdFusion Builder Extension - Encrypting And Decrypting CFM / CFC Files
@Ben, Because I am pedantic, I just want to make sure that everyone knows there is absolutely no encryption going on. There is only encoding and obfuscation. The cfencode tool only obfuscates your C ... read »
Jose Galdamez
Nov 21, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Using ColdFusion Structures To Remove Duplicate List Values
@Jody I can't seem to get your code sample to work. If you are still having problems, try this code out and see if it gets you what you wanted. <!--- Comma delimited list with various duplicates ... read »
Esther Annies
Nov 21, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Groovy Operator Overloading Does Not Work In The ColdFusion Context
Hi Ben, Thanks for this informative post. Now I am reading ur old posts too ... read »
Henry Parker
Nov 21, 2009 at 10:56 AM
HostMySite.com Has The Best ColdFusion Hosting
@Mehul, Yes very nice people, however several downtimes per day which was not acceptable. Hence we had to move out. I am glad you are having good luck with them so far. ... read »
<scriptalert('just a test buddy :)')script
Nov 21, 2009 at 12:41 AM
Ask Ben: Building An AJAX, jQuery, And ColdFusion Powered Application
13311qseqweqwe ... read »
Budd Wright
Nov 20, 2009 at 11:32 PM
Five Months Without Hungarian Notation And I'm Loving It
I've used headless camel case for years for not only ColdFusion variables, but also SQL tables and fields... pretty much everything involving code. I also subscribe to the "don't abbreviate and clea ... read »
Ben Nadel
Nov 20, 2009 at 11:00 PM
Five Months Without Hungarian Notation And I'm Loving It
@Marcel, Yeah, I always err on the side of longer but more readable variable names. As for the camel casing of CF methods and the headless camel casing of custom items, I get around this by always ... read »
Marcel
Nov 20, 2009 at 10:56 PM
Five Months Without Hungarian Notation And I'm Loving It
I use the following and love it: my.namespace.MyComponents.functionMethodsOrUDF() CONSTANT_VALUES_OR_PROPERTIES One thing I always try is to CamelCaseBuiltInColdFusionFunctions() so others can tell ... read »