javascript RegExp validate url expression

Question

I have already found many posts on this subject, however no post handles my specific issue.

This is the regex that I use (found on this website) :

function validateUrl(value){ return /[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\+~#=]{2,256}\.[a-z]{2,6}([-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]*)/i.test(value); }

This validates my url correct till up to the following point:

mydomain.tld/mypage/this'go(es{wro[ng

My function returns true, even when there are not-allowed characters like:
' or " or ( or ) or [ or ] or { or }

I don't understand why this is allowed. I have this: [-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]
Should return 'false' in my opinion...

I haven't looked at it closely, but my initial guess is that it's only matching a part of the input, but regex still considers a partial a match. To force it to check the whole input string, you need to use the ^ and $ anchors. — Steven Doggart
– Steven Doggart, Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 13:49
@Thomas True, but I didn't want to take the time to ensure that my hunch was correct. I'm happy enough to let Atif get the points if that really is the answer :) — Steven Doggart
– Steven Doggart, Commented Jan 22, 2016 at 13:56

Thomas Ayoub · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-22 14:18:51Z

Your regex almost works. In the string mydomain.tld/mypage/this'go(es{wro[ng it matches mydomain.tld/mypage/this. As you didn't put anchors in both ends, it does match (partially).

Just change it to:

^[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._\+~#=]{2,256}\.[a-z]{2,6}([-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&\/\/=]*)$ ^ ^

See LiveDemo

Atif Tariq · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-22 13:53:56Z

0

Please try this:

function validateUrl(value){ return /^(http(s)?:\/\/)?(www\.)?[a-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*\.[a-z]{2,5}(:[0-9]{1,5})?(\/.*)?$/.test(value); }

answered Jan 22, 2016 at 13:53

Atif Tariq

2,7701 gold badge31 silver badges35 bronze badges

1 Comment

Lucero Over a year ago

Explaining why the original version doesn't work as expected would be great, so that the OP understands the issue.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

javascript RegExp validate url expression

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

1 Comment

Related