freeCodeCamp/curriculum/challenges/english/02-javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/regular-expressions/match-everything-but-letters-and-numbers.english.md

id	title	challengeType	forumTopicId
587d7db8367417b2b2512ba0	Match Everything But Letters and Numbers	1	301353

Description

You've learned that you can use a shortcut to match alphanumerics [A-Za-z0-9_] using \w. A natural pattern you might want to search for is the opposite of alphanumerics. You can search for the opposite of the \w with \W. Note, the opposite pattern uses a capital letter. This shortcut is the same as [^A-Za-z0-9_].

let shortHand = /\W/;
let numbers = "42%";
let sentence = "Coding!";
numbers.match(shortHand); // Returns ["%"]
sentence.match(shortHand); // Returns ["!"]

Instructions

Use the shorthand character class \W to count the number of non-alphanumeric characters in various quotes and strings.

Tests

tests:
  - text: Your regex should use the global flag.
    testString: assert(nonAlphabetRegex.global);
  - text: Your regex should find 6 non-alphanumeric characters in <code>"The five boxing wizards jump quickly."</code>.
    testString: assert("The five boxing wizards jump quickly.".match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 6);
  - text: Your regex should use the shorthand character to match characters which are non-alphanumeric.
    testString: assert(/\\W/.test(nonAlphabetRegex.source));
  - text: Your regex should find 8 non-alphanumeric characters in <code>"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs."</code>
    testString: assert("Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.".match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 8);
  - text: Your regex should find 6 non-alphanumeric characters in <code>"How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!"</code>
    testString: assert("How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!".match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 6);
  - text: Your regex should find 12 non-alphanumeric characters in <code>"123 456 7890 ABC def GHI jkl MNO pqr STU vwx YZ."</code>
    testString: assert("123 456 7890 ABC def GHI jkl MNO pqr STU vwx YZ.".match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 12);

Challenge Seed

let quoteSample = "The five boxing wizards jump quickly.";
let nonAlphabetRegex = /change/; // Change this line
let result = quoteSample.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length;

Solution

let quoteSample = "The five boxing wizards_jump quickly.";
let nonAlphabetRegex = /\W/g; // Change this line
let result = quoteSample.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length;