search

Summary

Finds the first substring match in a regular expression search.

Syntax

stringObj.search( rgExp )

stringObj

Required. The String object or string literal on which to perform the search.

rgExp

Required. An instance of a Regular Expression object containing the regular expression pattern and applicable flags.

Return Value

If a match is found, the search method returns an integer value that indicates the offset from the beginning of the string where the first match occurred. If no match is found, it returns -1.

Examples

The following example illustrates the use of the search method.

var src = "is but a Dream within a dream";
 var re = /dream/;
 var pos = src.search(re);
 document.write(pos);
 document.write("<br/>");

 re = /dream/i;
 pos = src.search(re);
 document.write(pos);

 // Output:
 // 24
 // 9

Remarks

You can also set the i flag that causes the search to be case-insensitive.

See also

Other articles

• exec Method (Regular Expression)
• match Method (String)
• Regular Expression Object
• replace Method (String)
• test Method (Regular Expression)

Attributions

• Microsoft Developer Network: Article