Hi, I’ve tried to understand this problem:
console.log(/\(\d{3}\)|\d{5}/.test('(99900')) /*returns TRUE and my logic says it should be FALSE*/
my brain is thinking this way: to be true, the str should contain a ‘(’ followed by 3 digits followed by [either a ‘)’ or 5digits more]. Why am i wrong?
The pipe operator (|) means “or”. So you are matching either /\(\d{3}\)/ or /\d{5}/.
I like to use regex playgrounds like this to mess around with different regex.
Yes, regex is very confusing. But it’s also really powerful and cool.
I still don’t get why JS is grouping /\(\d{3}\)/ instead of apply the OR operation to /\)/ OR /\d{3}/
I think it just has to do with precedence and order or operations. Every language has to make choices like that. It seems that when a | is outside a bracket expression, they get evaluated after the regex is. That’s just how it works. Again, I think if mess around with a regex playground for a while, it will make more sense.
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