String Regular Expressions with MooTools

By  on  

Whether you like given JavaScript library or not , there are always snippets you can take from the code which accomplish a task you may need to address.  We all know that I looooooove MooTools, but maybe you're a Dojo or jQuery developer that doesn't get a good look at Moo.  The following are a choice selection of regular expression used with MooTools -- maybe you have use for them?

Clean Whitespace

var newString = myString.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '');

Camel-Case a Dash-Separated String

var newString = myString.replace(/-\D/g, function(match){
	return match.charAt(1).toUpperCase();
});

Dash-Separate a Camel-Cased String

var newString = myString.replace(/[A-Z]/g, function(match){
	return ('-' + match.charAt(0).toLowerCase());
});

Escape a Regular Expression

var newString = myString.replace(/([-.*+?^${}()|[\]\/\\])/g, '\\$1');

Hex to RGB, RGB to Hex

var hex = myString.match(/^#?(\w{1,2})(\w{1,2})(\w{1,2})$/);
var newString = (hex) ? hex.slice(1).hexToRgb(array) : null;

Term Substitution

var newString = this.replace(regexp || (/\\?\{([^{}]+)\}/g), function(match, name){
	if (match.charAt(0) == '\\') return match.slice(1);
	return (object[name] != undefined) ? object[name] : '';
});

Strip Scripts from a String

var newString = myString.replace(/<script[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/script>/gi, function(all, code){
	scripts += code + '\n';
	return '';
});

Above are just a sampling of regular expression used by MooTools to accomplish tasks.  Most, in fact, are applied as methods to the String native so they are available with *ANY* string!

Recent Features

  • By
    CSS @supports

    Feature detection via JavaScript is a client side best practice and for all the right reasons, but unfortunately that same functionality hasn't been available within CSS.  What we end up doing is repeating the same properties multiple times with each browser prefix.  Yuck.  Another thing we...

  • By
    Animated 3D Flipping Menu with CSS

    CSS animations aren't just for basic fades or sliding elements anymore -- CSS animations are capable of much more.  I've showed you how you can create an exploding logo (applied with JavaScript, but all animation is CSS), an animated Photo Stack, a sweet...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    CSS Kwicks

    One of the effects that made me excited about client side and JavaScript was the Kwicks effect.  Take a list of items and react to them accordingly when hovered.  Simple, sweet.  The effect was originally created with JavaScript but come five years later, our...

  • By
    Multiple Backgrounds with CSS

    Anyone that's been in the web development industry for 5+ years knows that there are certain features that we should have had several years ago. One of those features is the HTML5 placeholder; we used JavaScript shims for a decade before placeholder came...

Discussion

  1. Jeffrey

    Technologies will come and go – one library will find favor over the one you are currently using, one scripting language will arise that will make the one you are using look foolish, etc. But regular expressions are one of those things that will be a useful thing to know even on the tumultuous seas of techno-change.

    Good little article – make it a series. A cache of tested regular expressions to crib from is a useful thing to have.

    • Hear, hear!

      Perl was the first programming language I ever learned, so Regular Expressions have always been a primary tool I’ve used no matter the language. I just don’t know what I’d do without them!

      ^_^

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!