Question

I have string and want to capture a fragment by regex as:

var regex = new RegExp("(\s?.{0,2}the.{0,2}\s?)", "i");
var str= " the apple the apple the apple the apple the apple the apple the apple"
alert(str.match(regex))

The goal is to capture the first “max 3 symbol with(within) space” + “the” + “max 3 symbol with(within) space”

I dont understand why result is duplicated ——> the a, the a

Answer 1

var regex = new RegExp("(\s?.{0,2}the.{0,2}\s?)", "i");
                        ^                     ^   unnecessary capturing group.

match will handle the capturing group around the expression for you.

Your regex should be:

var regex = new RegExp("\s?.{0,2}the.{0,2}\s?", "i");