The syntax of the search()
method is:
str.search(regexp)
Here, str is a string.
search() Parameters
The search()
method takes in:
regexp
- A regular expression object (Argument is implicitly converted toRegExp
if it is a non-RegExp
object)
Return value from search()
- Returns the index of the first match between the regular expression and the given string
- Returns -1 if no match was found.
Example: Using search()
const string = "I love to write JavaScript programs";
let re = /[a-z]/;
let index = string.search(re);
console.log(index); // 2 -> matches 'l'
let re1 = /J[a-z]*/i;
let index1 = string.search(re1);
console.log(index1); // 16 -> matches 'JavaScript'
let re2 = /[0-9]/;
let index2 = string.search(re2);
console.log(index2); // -1 -> No digit match
Output
2 16 -1
Recommended Reading: JavaScript String match()