XRegExp provides augmented (and extensible) JavaScript regular expressions. You get new modern syntax and flags beyond what browsers support natively. XRegExp is also a regex utility belt with tools to make your client-side grepping and parsing easier, while freeing you from worrying about pesky aspects of JavaScript regexes like cross-browser inconsistencies and manually manipulating `lastIndex`.
XRegExp supports all native ES6 regular expression syntax. It supports Internet Explorer 5.5+, Firefox 1.5+, Chrome, Safari 3+, and Opera 11+. You can also use it with Node.js, or as a RequireJS module. The base library is about 4.25 KB, minified and gzipped.
## Performance
XRegExp regexes compile to native `RegExp` objects, and therefore perform just as fast as native regular expressions. There is a tiny extra cost when compiling a pattern for the first time.
## Usage examples
```js
// Using named capture and flag x (free-spacing and line comments)
var date = XRegExp('(?<year> [0-9]{4} ) -? # year \n\
(?<month> [0-9]{2} ) -? # month \n\
(?<day> [0-9]{2} ) # day ', 'x');
// XRegExp.exec gives you named backreferences on the match result
var match = XRegExp.exec('2015-02-22', date);
match.year; // -> '2015'
// It also includes optional pos and sticky arguments
var pos = 3, result = [];
while (match = XRegExp.exec('<1><2><3><4>5<6>', /<(\d+)>/, pos, 'sticky')) {
result.push(match[1]);
pos = match.index + match[0].length;
} // result -> ['2', '3', '4']
// XRegExp.replace allows named backreferences in replacements
These examples should give you the flavor of what's possible, but XRegExp has more syntax, flags, methods, options, and browser fixes that aren't shown here. You can even augment XRegExp's regular expression syntax with addons (see below) or write your own. See [xregexp.com](http://xregexp.com/) for more details.
You can either load addons individually, or bundle all addons together with XRegExp by loading `xregexp-all.js`. XRegExp's [npm package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/xregexp) uses `xregexp-all.js`, so addons are always available when XRegExp is installed using npm.
By default, `\p{…}` and `\P{…}` support the Basic Multilingual Plane (i.e. code points up to `U+FFFF`). You can opt-in to full 21-bit Unicode support (with code points up to `U+10FFFF`) on a per-regex basis by using flag `A`. In XRegExp, this is called *astral mode*. You can automatically add flag `A` for all new regexes by running `XRegExp.install('astral')`. When in astral mode, `\p{…}` and `\P{…}` always match a full code point rather than a code unit, using surrogate pairs for code points above `U+FFFF`.
Opting in to astral mode disables the use of `\p{…}` and `\P{…}` within character classes. In astral mode, use e.g. `(\pL|[0-9_])+` instead of `[\pL0-9_]+`.
XRegExp uses Unicode 8.0.0.
### XRegExp.build
In browsers, first include the script:
```html
<scriptsrc="src/xregexp.js"></script>
<scriptsrc="src/addons/build.js"></script>
```
You can then build regular expressions using named subpatterns, for readability and pattern reuse:
```js
var time = XRegExp.build('(?x)^ {{hours}} ({{minutes}}) $', {
hours: XRegExp.build('{{h12}} : | {{h24}}', {
h12: /1[0-2]|0?[1-9]/,
h24: /2[0-3]|[01][0-9]/
}),
minutes: /^[0-5][0-9]$/
});
time.test('10:59'); // -> true
XRegExp.exec('10:59', time).minutes; // -> '59'
```
Named subpatterns can be provided as strings or regex objects. A leading `^` and trailing unescaped `$` are stripped from subpatterns if both are present, which allows embedding independently-useful anchored patterns. `{{…}}` tokens can be quantified as a single unit. Any backreferences in the outer pattern or provided subpatterns are automatically renumbered to work correctly within the larger combined pattern. The syntax `({{name}})` works as shorthand for named capture via `(?<name>{{name}})`. Named subpatterns cannot be embedded within character classes.
See also: *[Creating Grammatical Regexes Using XRegExp.build](http://blog.stevenlevithan.com/archives/grammatical-patterns-xregexp-build)*.
Tools: Unicode range generators by [Mathias Bynens](http://mathiasbynens.be/), and adapted from his [unicode-data](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/unicode-data) project.
Prior art: `XRegExp.build` inspired by [Lea Verou](http://lea.verou.me/)'s [RegExp.create](http://lea.verou.me/2011/03/create-complex-regexps-more-easily/). `XRegExp.union` inspired by [Ruby](http://www.ruby-lang.org/). XRegExp's syntax extensions and flags come from [Perl](http://www.perl.org/), [.NET](http://www.microsoft.com/net), etc.