Regex matching emoticons
Solution 1
Match emoji first (to take care of the :pencil: example) and then check for a terminating whitespace or newline:
(\:\w+\:|\<[\/\\]?3|[\(\)\\\D|\*\$][\-\^]?[\:\;\=]|[\:\;\=B8][\-\^]?[3DOPp\@\$\*\\\)\(\/\|])(?=\s|[\!\.\?]|$)
This regex matches the following (preferring emoji) returning the match in matching group 1:
:( :) :P :p :O :3 :| :/ :\ :$ :* :@
:-( :-) :-P :-p :-O :-3 :-| :-/ :-\ :-$ :-* :-@
:^( :^) :^P :^p :^O :^3 :^| :^/ :^\ :^$ :^* :^@
): (: $: *:
)-: (-: $-: *-:
)^: (^: $^: *^:
<3 </3 <\3
:smile: :hug: :pencil:
It also supports terminal punctuation as a delimiter in addition to white space.
You can see more details and test it here: https://regex101.com/r/aM3cU7/4
Solution 2
Make a positive look-ahead for a space
([\:\<]-?[)(|\\/pP3D])(?:(?=\s))
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |-> match last separating space
| | |-> match last part of the emot
| |-> it may have a `-` or not
|-> first part of the emoticon
Since you're using javascript, and you don't have access to look arounds:
/([\:\<]-?[)|\\/pP3D])(\s|$)/g.exec('hi :) ;D');
And then just splice()
the resulting array out of its last entry (that's most probably a space)
Solution 3
I assume these emoticons will commonly be used with spaces before and after. Then \s
might be what you're looking for, as it represents a white space.
Then your regex would become
\s+(\:\)|\:\(|<3|\:\/|\:-\/|\:\||\:p)\s
FiniteLooper
I'm a front-end web designer and developer. I make user interfaces better, write a lot of Angular code, and I've usually got some coffee
Updated on July 25, 2022Comments
-
FiniteLooper almost 2 years
We are working on a project where we want users to be able to use both emoji syntax (like
:smile:
,:heart:
,:confused:
,:stuck_out_tongue:
) as well as normal emoticons (like:)
,<3
,:/
,:p
)I'm having trouble with the emoticon syntax because sometimes those character sequences will occur in:
- normal strings or URL's - http
:/
/example.com - within the emoji syntax -
:p
encil:
How can I find these emoticon character sequences but not when other characters are near them?
The entire regex I'm using for all the emoticons is huge, so here's a trimed down version:
(\:\)|\:\(|<3|\:\/|\:-\/|\:\||\:p)
You can play with a demo of it in action here: http://regexr.com/3a8o5
- normal strings or URL's - http