How to Match Word Boundaries with Unicode Characters in Finnish Text Using JavaScript RegExp?

Javascript RegExp Word Boundaries Unicode Characters

Question:

When using JavaScript's RegExp for string matching in Finnish text with special characters like ä, ö, and å, the word boundary b fails to match words beginning with these characters. How can this issue be resolved to allow proper matching of Unicode characters?

Answer:

The b word boundary metacharacter may face limitations in matching Unicode characters at the start of a string. To address this:

Replace \b with (?:^|\s)

Breakdown:

• (?: ... ) creates a non-capturing group.
• ^ matches the start of a string.
• |s matches whitespace.
• (?:^|s) effectively specifies to match entweder am Anfang der Zeichenfolge oder nach einem Leerzeichen.

Example:

The following code demonstrates matching Finnish words with Unicode characters using a non-capturing group instead of b:

<code class="js">var title = "this is simple string with finnish word tämä on ääkköstesti älkää ihmetelkö";
var searchterm = "äl";

if (new RegExp("(?:^|\s)" + searchterm, "gi").test(title)) {
    console.log("Match:", searchterm, title);
} else {
    console.log("Nothing found:", searchterm);
}</code>

This approach successfully matches the search term "äl" in the Unicode string "ääkköstesti" because it considers either the start of the string or whitespace as a word boundary.

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