JavaScript RegExp \S Metacharacter
Example
A global search for non-whitespace characters:
let text = "Is this all there is?";
let pattern = /\S/g;
Try it Yourself »
Definition and Usage
The \S metacharacter matches non-whitespace characters.
Whitespace characters can be:
- A space character
- A tab character
- A carriage return character
- A new line character
- A vertical tab character
- A form feed character
Browser Support
/\S/ 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("\\S")
or simply:
/\S/
Syntax with modifiers
new RegExp("\\S", "g")
or simply:
/\S/g
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:
| Example | Description |
|---|---|
| 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() |
