Question

How can I test if a RegEx matches a string exactly?

var r = /a/; r.test('a'); // returns true r.test('ba'); // returns true testExact(r, 'ba'); // should return false testExact(r, 'a'); // should return true 

Answer 1

Either modify the pattern beforehand so that it only matches the entire string:

var r = /^a$/ 

or check afterward whether the pattern matched the whole string:

function matchExact(r, str) {    var match = str.match(r);    return match && str === match[0]; }