javascript regular expression exec( )

Properties of both the static RegExp and regular expression instance (myRE in the example) objects are updated with information about the results of the search. In addition, the exec( ) method returns an array of data, much of it similar to RegExp object properties. The returned array includes the following properties:

index

Zero-based index of starting character in the string that matches the pattern

input

The original string being searched

[0]

String of the characters matching the pattern

[1]...[n]

Strings of the results of the parenthesized component matches

You can stow away the results of the exec( ) method in a variable, whereas the RegExp property values change with the next regular expression operation. If the regular expression is set for global searching, a subsequent call to myRE.exec("someString") continues the search from the position of the previous match.

If no match is found for a given call to exec( ), it returns null.

• The string to be searched.

An array of match information if successful; null if there is no match.