Javascript RegEx "invalid quantifier"

Question

var search = new RegExp("<span class=\"highlight\">(?<text>.*)</span>", "g");

Is there something wrong with the RegEx? Firebug just says "invalid quantifier". Thats it, no more information.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 24 '12 at 07:38

1

The question mark quantifier is wrong there. You want to match and collect between the brackets (). Doing (? is wrong, if you want to match ( you should escape the brackets.

var search = new RegExp("<span class=\"highlight\">(<text>.*)</span>", "g");

answered Jan 24 '12 at 07:38

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I'm pretty sure the `(?.*)` was supposed to be a named group, which isn't supported by JavaScript regexes. The equivalent non-named group would be `(.*)`. – Alan Moore Jan 24 '12 at 08:36
@Alan Moore: Yeah, it was. I used the non-named group instead. – Display Name Jan 25 '12 at 09:14

Javascript RegEx "invalid quantifier"

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