[javascript] Alphanumeric, dash and underscore but no spaces regular expression check JavaScript

Trying to check input against a regular expression.

The field should only allow alphanumeric characters, dashes and underscores and should NOT allow spaces.

However, the code below allows spaces.

What am I missing?

var regexp = /^[a-zA-Z0-9\-\_]$/;
var check = "checkme";
if (check.search(regexp) == -1)
    { alert('invalid'); }
else
    { alert('valid'); }

This question is related to javascript regex

The answer is


However, the code below allows spaces.

No, it doesn't. However, it will only match on input with a length of 1. For inputs with a length greater than or equal to 1, you need a + following the character class:

var regexp = /^[a-zA-Z0-9-_]+$/;
var check = "checkme";
if (check.search(regexp) === -1)
    { alert('invalid'); }
else
    { alert('valid'); }

Note that neither the - (in this instance) nor the _ need escaping.


Try this

"[A-Za-z0-9_-]+"

Should allow underscores and hyphens


try this one, it is working fine for me.

"^([a-zA-Z])[a-zA-Z0-9-_]*$"

You shouldn't use String.match but RegExp.prototype.test (i.e. /abc/.test("abcd")) instead of String.search() if you're only interested in a boolean value. You also need to repeat your character class as explained in the answer by Andy E:

var regexp = /^[a-zA-Z0-9-_]+$/;

Don't escape the underscore. Might be causing some whackness.


Got stupid error. So post here, if anyone find it useful

  1. [-\._] - means hyphen, dot and underscore
  2. [\.-_] - means all signs in range from dot to underscore

This is the most concise syntax I could find for a regex expression to be used for this check:

const regex = /^[\w-]+$/;