regexdot

A tiny utility that converts dot object access patterns into RegExp.

With regexdot, you may turn a path string (eg, .users.:id) into a regular expression.

An object with shape of { keys, pattern } is returned, where pattern is the RegExp and keys is an array of your parameter name(s) in the order that they appeared.

This module does not create a keys dictionary, nor mutate an existing variable. Also, this only ships a parser, which only accept strings. Similarly, and most importantly, regexdot only handles basic path operators:

• Static (.foo, .foo.bar)
• Parameter (.:title, .books.:title, .books.:genre.:title)
• Parameter w. Suffix (.movies.:title.mp4, .movies.:title.(mp4|mov))
• Optional Parameters (.:title?, .books.:title?, .books.:genre.:title?)
• Wildcards (*, .books.*, .books.:genre.*)

This module exposes two module definitions:

• CommonJS: dist/index.js

Install

$ npm install --save regexdot

Usage

const { regexdot } = require('@fabrix/regexdot')

// Example param-assignment
function exec(path, result) {
  let i=0, out={}
  let matches = result.pattern.exec(path)
  while (i < result.keys.length) {
    out[ result.keys[i] ] = matches[++i] || null
  }
  return out
}


// Parameter, with Optional Parameter
// ---
let foo = regexdot('.books.:genre.:title?')
// foo.pattern => /^\.books\.([^\.]+?)(?:\.([^\.]+?))?\.?$/i
// foo.keys => ['genre', 'title']

foo.pattern.test('.books.horror') // => true
foo.pattern.test('.books.horror.goosebumps') // => true

exec('.books.horror', foo)
//=> { genre: 'horror', title: null }

exec('.books.horror.goosebumps', foo)
//=> { genre: 'horror', title: 'goosebumps' }


// Parameter, with suffix
// ---
let bar = regexdot('.movies.:title.(mp4|mov)')
// bar.pattern => /^\/movies\/([^\/]+?)\.(mp4|mov)\/?$/i
// bar.keys => ['title']

bar.pattern.test('.movies.narnia') //=> false
bar.pattern.test('.movies.narnia.mp3') //=> false
bar.pattern.test('.movies.narnia.mp4') //=> true

exec('.movies.narnia.mp4', bar)
//=> { title: 'narnia' }


// Wildcard
// ---
let baz = regexdot('users.*')
// baz.pattern => /^\.users\.(.*)\.?$/i
// baz.keys => ['wild']

baz.pattern.test('.users') //=> false
baz.pattern.test('.users.fabrix') //=> true

exec('.users.fabrix.repos.new', baz)
//=> { wild: 'fabrix/repos/new' }

Importnat: Using :: will assume that it is not a param but a message header. Eg. messege::commplete does not contain any parameters.

Important: When matching/testing against a generated RegExp, your path must begin with a leading dot (".")!

Regular Expressions

For fine-tuned control, you may pass a RegExp value directly to regexdot as its only parameter.

In these situations, regexdot does not parse nor manipulate your pattern in any way! Because of this, regexdot has no "insight" on your route, and instead trusts your input fully. In code, this means that the return value's keys is always equal to false and the pattern is identical to your input value.

This also means that you must manage and parse your own keys~! You may use named capture groups or traverse the matched segments manually the "old-fashioned" way:

// Named capture group
const named = regexdot(/^\/posts[\.](?<year>[0-9]{4})[\.](?<month>[0-9]{2})[\.](?<title>[^\.]+)/i);
const { groups } = named.pattern.exec('.posts.2019.05.hello-world');
console.log(groups);
//=> { year: '2019', month: '05', title: 'hello-world' }

// Widely supported / "Old-fashioned"
const named = regexdot(/^\.posts[\.]([0-9]{4})[\.]([0-9]{2})[\.]([^\.]+)/i);
const [url, year, month, title] = named.pattern.exec('.posts.2019.05.hello-world');
console.log(year, month, title);
//=> 2019 05 hello-world

API

There are two API variants:

1. When passing a String input, the loose parameter is able to affect the output. View API

2. When passing a RegExp value, that must be regexdot's only argument. Your pattern is saved as written, so loose is ignored entirely. View API

regexdot(str, loose)

Returns: Object

Returns a { keys, pattern } object, where pattern is a generated RegExp instance and keys is a list of extracted parameter names.

str

Type: String

The path string to convert.

Note: It does not matter if your str begins with a / — it will be added if missing.

loose

Type: Boolean Default: false

Should the RegExp match URLs that are longer than the str pattern itself? By default, the generated RegExp will test that the URL begins and ends with the pattern.

const { regexdot } = require('@fabrix/regexdot');

regexdot('.users').pattern.test('.users.fabrix'); //=> false
regexdot('.users', true).pattern.test('.users.fabrix'); //=> true

regexdot('.users.:name').pattern.test('.users.fabrix.repos'); //=> false
regexdot('.users.:name', true).pattern.test('.users.fabrix.repos'); //=> true

regexdot(rgx)

Returns: Object

Returns a { keys, pattern } object, where pattern is identical to your rgx and keys is false, always.

rgx

Type: RegExp

Your RegExp pattern.

Important: This pattern is used as is! No parsing or interpreting is done on your behalf.

Release Instructions

When the master is tagged with a release, it will automatically publish to npm, updates the Changelog and bumps the version. Fabrix uses the standard-version library to manage it all.

To run a patch release:

npm run release -- --release-as patch

and then commit to master. git push --follow-tags origin master

You can also test the release by running

npm run release -- --dry-run --release-as patch