In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010)

Re:In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010) by gibsonf1 on Saturday September 25, 2021 @07:38PM (#28657081)

I use this:

u.checkURL = function (string) {

    if ($.type(string) === "string") {

        if (/^(https?|ftp):(\/\/(((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)*@)?((\[(|(v[\da-f]{1,}\.(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~)|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)+))\])|((\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]))|(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=])*)(:\d*)?)(\/(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*|(\/((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)+(\/(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)?)|((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)+(\/(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)|((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)){0})(\?((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|[\uE000-\uF8FF]|\/|\?)*)?(\#((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|\/|\?)\*)?$/i.test(string)) {

            return true;

        } else {

            return false;

        }

    } else {

        return false;

    }

}

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010) by louthy on Saturday September 25, 2021 @10:20PM (#28657879)

    if(predicate) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }

Can just be written;

    return predicate;

So, your code above can be:

    return &.type(string) === “string” && /regex/i.test(string);

Reg-exes like this are truly hideous though, they may as well be written in Brainfuck for all their lack of maintainability and readability.

I will never understand why regular expressions are considered the best tool for the job when it comes to parsing; they are far too terse, and do not declare intent in any way.

Software development is not just about communicating with the computer, it’s about communicating with other engineers, so we can work collaboratively. Regular expressions are the antithesis to that way of thinking

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:In search of the perfect URL validation regex (2010) by toomanybeersies on Sunday September 26, 2021 @06:05AM (#28659668)

If you're writing browser JS, just use the URL builtin

  const isValidUrl = urlString => {
    try {
      new URL(urlString);
      return true;
    } catch {
      return false;
    }
  };

[ Parent | on HN ]