Symbol.match

The Symbol.match well-known symbol specifies the matching of a regular expression against a string. This function is called by the String.prototype.match() method.

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Description

This function is also used to identify if objects have the behavior of regular expressions. For example, the methods String.prototype.startsWith(), String.prototype.endsWith() and String.prototype.includes(), check if their first argument is a regular expression and will throw a TypeError if they are. Now, if the match symbol is set to false (or a Falsy value), it indicates that the object is not intended to be used as a regular expression object.

Examples

Disabling the isRegExp check

The following code will throw a TypeError:

'/bar/'.startsWith(/bar/);

// Throws TypeError, as /bar/ is a regular expression
// and Symbol.match is not modified.

However, if you set Symbol.match to false, the isRegExp check (that uses the match property) will indicate that the object is not a regular expression object. The methods startsWith and endsWith won't throw a TypeError as a consequence.

var re = /foo/;
re[Symbol.match] = false;
'/foo/'.startsWith(re); // true
'/baz/'.endsWith(re);   // false

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Symbol.replace
• Symbol.search
• Symbol.split
• RegExp.prototype[@@match]()