JavaScript RegExp \b Metacharacter
Example
Search for "LO" at the beginning of a word:
let text = "HELLO, LOOK AT YOU";
let pattern = /\bLO/;
Try it Yourself »
Definition and Usage
The \b metacharacter matches at the beginning or end of a word.
Search for the pattern LO at the beginning of a word like this:
\bLO
Search for the pattern LO at the end of a word like this:
LO\b
Browser Support
/\b/ is an ECMAScript1 (ES1) feature.
ES1 (JavaScript 1997) is fully supported in all browsers:
| Chrome | IE | Edge | Firefox | Safari | Opera |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Syntax
new RegExp("\\bregexp")
or simply:
/\bregexp/
Syntax with modifiers
new RegExp("\\bregexp", "g")
or simply:
/\bregexp/g
More Examples
Example
Search for "LO" at the END of a word:
let text = "HELLO, LOOK AT YOU";
let pattern = /LO\b/;
Try it Yourself »
Regular Expression Search Methods
In JavaScript, a regular expression text search, can be done with different methods.
With a pattern as a regular expression, these are the most common methods:
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
| text.match(pattern) | The String method match() |
| text.search(pattern) | The String method search() |
| pattern.exec(text) | The RexExp method exec() |
| pattern.test(text) | The RegExp method test() |
