Match Rules

match_rules.js

// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26246601/wildcard-string-comparison-in-javascript

// Short code
function matchRuleShort(str, rule) {
  return new RegExp("^" + rule.split("*").join(".*") + "$").test(str);
}

// Explanation code
function matchRuleExpl(str, rule) {
  // "."  => Find a single character, except newline or line terminator
  // ".*" => Matches any string that contains zero or more characters
  rule = rule.split("*").join(".*");

  // "^"  => Matches any string with the following at the beginning of it
  // "$"  => Matches any string with that in front at the end of it
  rule = "^" + rule + "$"

  //Create a regular expression object for matching string
  var regex = new RegExp(rule);

  //Returns true if it finds a match, otherwise it returns false
  return regex.test(str);
}

//Examples
alert(
    "1. " + matchRuleShort("bird123", "bird*") + "\n" +
    "2. " + matchRuleShort("123bird", "*bird") + "\n" +
    "3. " + matchRuleShort("123bird123", "*bird*") + "\n" +
    "4. " + matchRuleShort("bird123bird", "bird*bird") + "\n" +
    "5. " + matchRuleShort("123bird123bird123", "*bird*bird*") + "\n"
);