JavaScript RegExp \b Metacharacter


Example

Search for "LO" at the beginning of a word:

let text = "HELLO, LOOK AT YOU";
let pattern = /\bLO/;
Try it Yourself »

Description

The \b metacharacter matches at the beginning or end of a word.

Search for the pattern LO at the beginning of a word like this:
\bLO

Search for the pattern LO at the end of a word like this:
LO\b

Browser Support

/\b/ is an ECMAScript1 (ES1) feature.

ES1 (JavaScript 1997) is fully supported in all browsers:

Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera IE
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes


Syntax

new RegExp("\\bregexp")

or simply:

/\bregexp/

Syntax with modifiers

new RegExp("\\bregexp", "g")

or simply:

/\bregexp/g

More Examples

Example

Search for "LO" at the END of a word:

let text = "HELLO, LOOK AT YOU";
let pattern = /LO\b/;
Try it Yourself »

Regular Expression Search Methods

In JavaScript, a regular expression text search, can be done with different methods.

With a pattern as a regular expression, these are the most common methods:

ExampleDescription
text.match(pattern)The String method match()
text.search(pattern)The String method search()
pattern.exec(text)The RexExp method exec()
pattern.test(text)The RegExp method test()

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