UrlMatch

JavaScript object that provides URL matching functionality using patterns similar to what is used in extensions in Google Chrome: http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/match_patterns.html

On top of Chrome's pattern matching, this object can also check for specific URL parameters and fragments (see below).

How to use

URL validation

In it's most simple form, you can use it as a generic URL validator.

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('https://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en'); // true
myMatch.test('this.is.not/valid.url'); // false

Match against pattern

But what you usually want to do is to match it against some specific URL pattern.

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*.google.com/*');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('http://calendar.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('https://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.facebook.com/'); // false
myMatch.test('http://www.google.sucks.com/'); // false

Match against multiple patterns

You can use it to match against a list of patterns.

myMatch = new UrlMatch(['*://*.google.com/*', '*://*.facebook.com/*']);
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.facebook.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.apple.com/'); // false

Add or remove patterns on the fly

You can add and remove the patterns on the fly.

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*.google.com/*');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.facebook.com/'); // false

myMatch.addPattern('*://*.facebook.com/*');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.facebook.com/'); // true

myMatch.removePattern('*://*.google.com/*');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/'); // false
myMatch.test('http://www.facebook.com/'); // true

Match URL paths

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*.google.com/*/preferences');
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/preferences'); // false
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/aaa/preferences'); // true
myMatch.test('http://www.google.com/aaa/preferences/bbb'); // false

Match URL parameters

NOTE: This functionality is not available in Chrome pattern matching.

You can check for URL parameters:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?aaa=*');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb'); // true
myMatch.test('http://facebook.com/?aaa=ccc'); // true
myMatch.test('http://apple.com/?aaa=bbb&ccc=ddd'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/'); // false

You can check for URL parameters with specific value:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?aaa=bbb');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=ccc'); // false

You can check for URL parameters using wildcards:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?aaa=bbb*');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbbccc'); // true

You can even check for any URL parameter with specific value:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?*=ccc');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=ccc'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?bbb=ccc'); // true

The order of parameters does not matter:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?aaa=bbb&ccc=ddd');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb&ccc=ddd'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?ccc=ddd&aaa=bbb'); // true

Strict mode for params

You can activate strict mode for checking params by prepending exclamation mark (!) in front of params pattern:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*?!aaa=*');

In strict mode, all param patterns must be matched and there can be no unmatched params:

myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/'); // false (param missing)
myMatch.test('http://google.com/?aaa=bbb&ccc=ddd'); // false (too many params)

Match URL fragments

NOTE: This functionality is not available in Chrome pattern matching.

You can check for URL fragments (the part of the URL after #):

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*#aaa');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/#aaa'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/#bbb'); // false

You can check for URL fragments using wildcards:

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://*/*#aaa*');
myMatch.test('http://google.com/#aaa'); // true
myMatch.test('http://google.com/#aaabbb'); // true

Debug

You can use debug() method to get detailed information about matching of each part of the pattern against each tested URL.

Use it the same way you would use test() method. But instead of boolean value, it returns object where keys are tested URLs and values are deconstructed results.

myMatch = new UrlMatch('*://aaa.bbb/');
myMatch.debug('http://aaa.bbb/');
/*
{
  "*://aaa.bbb/": {
    "scheme": {
      "pattern": "*",
      "value": "http",
      "result": true
    },
    "host": {
      "pattern": "aaa.bbb",
      "value": "aaa.bbb",
      "result": true
    },
    "path": {
      "pattern": "",
      "value": "",
      "result": true
    },
    "params": {
      "pattern": null,
      "value": null,
      "result": true
    },
    "fragment": {
      "pattern": null,
      "value": null,
      "result": true
    }
  }
}
 */

Bug reports, feature requests and contact

If you found any bugs, if you have feature requests or any questions, please, either file an issue at GitHub or send me an e-mail at [email protected].

License

UrlMatch is published under the MIT license.