The sticky
property reflects whether or not the search is sticky (searches in strings only from the index indicated by the lastIndex
property of this regular expression). sticky
is a read-only property of an individual regular expression object.
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Property attributes of RegExp.prototype.sticky |
|
---|---|
Writable | no |
Enumerable | no |
Configurable | yes |
Description
The value of sticky
is a Boolean
and true if the "y
" flag was used; otherwise, false. The "y
" flag indicates that it matches only from the index indicated by the lastIndex
property of this regular expression in the target string (and does not attempt to match from any later indexes). A regular expression defined as both sticky
and global
ignores the global
flag.
You cannot change this property directly. It is read-only.
Examples
Using a regular expression with the sticky flag
var str = '#foo#'; var regex = /foo/y; regex.lastIndex = 1; regex.test(str); // true regex.lastIndex = 5; regex.test(str); // false (lastIndex is taken into account with sticky flag) regex.lastIndex; // 0 (reset after match failure)
Anchored sticky flag
For several versions, Firefox's SpiderMonkey engine had a bug with regard to the ^
assertion and the sticky flag which allowed expressions starting with the ^
assertion and using the sticky flag to match when they shouldn't. The bug was introduced some time after Firefox 3.6 (which had the sticky flag but not the bug) and fixed in 2015. Perhaps because of the bug, the ES2015 specification specifically calls out the fact that:
When the
y
flag is used with a pattern, ^ always matches only at the beginning of the input, or (ifmultiline
istrue
) at the beginning of a line.
Examples of correct behavior:
var regex = /^foo/y; regex.lastIndex = 2; regex.test('..foo'); // false - index 2 is not the beginning of the string var regex2 = /^foo/my; regex2.lastIndex = 2; regex2.test('..foo'); // false - index 2 is not the beginning of the string or line regex2.lastIndex = 2; regex2.test('.\nfoo'); // true - index 2 is the beginning of a line
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript (ECMA-262) The definition of 'RegExp.prototype.sticky' in that specification. |
Browser compatibility
Desktop | Mobile | Server | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sticky | Chrome Full support 49 | Edge Full support 13 | Firefox Full support 3 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 36 | Safari Full support 10 | WebView Android Full support 49 | Chrome Android Full support 49 | Firefox Android Full support 4 | Opera Android Full support 36 | Safari iOS Full support 10 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 | nodejs Full support Yes |
Anchored sticky flag behavior per ES2015 | Chrome Full support 49 | Edge Full support 13 | Firefox Full support 44 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 36 | Safari Full support 10 | WebView Android Full support 49 | Chrome Android Full support 49 | Firefox Android Full support 44 | Opera Android Full support 36 | Safari iOS Full support 10 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 | nodejs ? |
Prototype accessor property (ES2015) | Chrome Full support 49 | Edge Full support 13 | Firefox Full support 38 | IE No support No | Opera Full support 36 | Safari Full support 10 | WebView Android Full support 49 | Chrome Android Full support 49 | Firefox Android Full support 38 | Opera Android Full support 36 | Safari iOS Full support 10 | Samsung Internet Android Full support 5.0 | nodejs Full support Yes |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- Compatibility unknown
- Compatibility unknown