Given a value I want to validate it to check if it is a valid year. My criteria is simple where the value should be an integer with 4
characters. I know this is not the best solution as it will not allow years before 1000
and will allow years such as 5000
. This criteria is adequate for my current scenario.
What I came up with is
\d{4}$
While this works it also allows negative values.
How do I ensure that only positive integers are allowed?
This question is related to
regex
string
validation
string-matching
In my case I wanted to match a string which ends with a year (4 digits) like this for example:
Oct 2020
Nov 2020
Dec 2020
Jan 2021
It'll return true
with this one:
var sheetName = 'Jan 2021';
var yearRegex = new RegExp("\b\d{4}$");
var isMonthSheet = yearRegex.test(sheetName);
Logger.log('isMonthSheet = ' + isMonthSheet);
The code above is used in Apps Script.
Here's the link to test the Regex above: https://regex101.com/r/SzYQLN/1
If you need to match YYYY or YYYYMMDD you can use:
^((?:(?:(?:(?:(?:[1-9]\d)(?:0[48]|[2468][048]|[13579][26])|(?:(?:[2468][048]|[13579][26])00))(?:0?2(?:29)))|(?:(?:[1-9]\d{3})(?:(?:(?:0?[13578]|1[02])(?:31))|(?:(?:0?[13-9]|1[0-2])(?:29|30))|(?:(?:0?[1-9])|(?:1[0-2]))(?:0?[1-9]|1\d|2[0-8])))))|(?:19|20)\d{2})$
you can go with sth like [^-]\d{4}$
: you prevent the minus sign -
to be before your 4 digits.
you can also use ^\d{4}$
with ^
to catch the beginning of the string. It depends on your scenario actually...
/^\d{4}$/ This will check if a string consists of only 4 numbers. In this scenario, to input a year 989, you can give 0989 instead.
The "accepted" answer to this question is both incorrect and myopic.
It is incorrect in that it will match strings like 0001
, which is not a valid year.
It is myopic in that it will not match any values above 9999. Have we already forgotten the lessons of Y2K? Instead, use the regular expression:
^[1-9]\d{3,}$
If you need to match years in the past, in addition to years in the future, you could use this regular expression to match any positive integer:
^[1-9]\d*$
Even if you don't expect dates from the past, you may want to use this regular expression anyway, just in case someone invents a time machine and wants to take your software back with them.
Note: This regular expression will match all years, including those before the year 1, since they are typically represented with a BC designation instead of a negative integer. Of course, this convention could change over the next few millennia, so your best option is to match any integer—positive or negative—with the following regular expression:
^-?[1-9]\d*$
Use;
^(19|[2-9][0-9])\d{2}$
for years 1900 - 9999.
No need to worry for 9999 and onwards - A.I. will be doing all programming by then !!! Hehehehe
You can test your regex at https://regex101.com/
Also more info about non-capturing groups ( mentioned in one the comments above ) here http://www.manifold.net/doc/radian/why_do_non-capture_groups_exist_.htm
You can also use this one.
([0-2][0-9]|3[0-1])\/([0-1][0-2])\/(19[789]\d|20[01]\d)
This works for 1900 to 2099:
/(?:(?:19|20)[0-9]{2})/
To test a year in a string which contains other words along with the year you can use the following regex: \b\d{4}\b
Building on @r92 answer, for years 1970-2019:
(19[789]\d|20[01]\d)
You could convert your integer into a string. As the minus sign will not match the digits, you will have no negative years.
In theory the 4 digit option is right. But in practice it might be better to have 1900-2099 range.
Additionally it need to be non-capturing group. Many comments and answers propose capturing grouping which is not proper IMHO. Because for matching it might work, but for extracting matches using regex it will extract 4 digit numbers and two digit (19 and 20) numbers also because of paranthesis.
This will work for exact matching using non-capturing groups:
(?:19|20)\d{2}
I use this regex in Java ^(0[1-9]|1[012])[/](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])[/](19|[2-9][0-9])[0-9]{2}$
Works from 1900 to 9999
Years from 1000 to 2999
^[12][0-9]{3}$
For 1900-2099
^(19|20)\d{2}$
Source: Stackoverflow.com