Question

If I have a string, e.g.: “Consensus IRIS 2010-11 Series 6”

If someone types part of that string, e.g. “iris” into a textbox, how can I identify the substring in the original string?

I have the following, but it only matches when the string starts with the value from the text box.

var txt= $('#txtName').val();

var regExp = new RegExp("^" + txt, "i");

var t = item.name.replace(regExp, "<span class='matched-text'>" + txt + "</span>");

Side note: I am baffled by regular expressions!

Answer 1

Try with this:

var regExp = new RegExp(txt, "i");

Or this:

var regExp = new RegExp("\b"+txt"\b", "i");

The first will match txt anywhere in the string, even in the middle of a word. The second will not match in the middle of a word.