The regexToArray function takes a regular expression and a string, and returns an array of objects containing information about the matches found. Each object contains the starting index, length, and optional group value of a match.

Run example

npm run import -- "convert regexp matches to an array"

convert regexp matches to an array

function regexToArray(ex, str, i = 0) {
    var co = []
    var m
    while ((m = ex.exec(str))) {
        co.push(i === -1 ? [m.index, m[0].length] : i === false ? m : m[i])
    }
    return co
}

module.exports.regexToArray = regexToArray;

```javascript
/**
 * Converts a regular expression to an array of matches.
 * 
 * @param {RegExp} ex - The regular expression to match.
 * @param {string} str - The string to search for matches.
 * @param {number} [i=0] - The index of the match to return. 
 *   If set to -1, returns an array of match indices and lengths.
 *   If set to false, returns the entire match.
 * @returns {Array} An array of matches.
 */
function regexToArray(ex, str, i = 0) {
    // Initialize an empty array to store the matches
    const matches = [];

    // Use String.prototype.matchAll() for better performance
    const iterator = str.matchAll(ex);

    // Iterate over the matches using the iterator
    for (const { indices, groups } of iterator) {
        // Push the match to the array or extract the i-th group
        if (i === -1) {
            // Return index and length of the match
            matches.push([indices[0], ex[0].length]);
        } else if (i === false) {
            // Return the entire match
            matches.push(ex[0]);
        } else if (i < groups.length) {
            // Return the i-th group of the match
            matches.push(groups[i]);
        }
    }

    return matches;
}

module.exports.regexToArray = regexToArray;
```

regexToArray Function

Parameters

• ex: A regular expression object.
• str: The string to be searched.
• i: The group index to be extracted. Optional, defaults to 0.

Return Value

An array of objects containing information about the matches found.

Description

The regexToArray function uses a regular expression to find all matches in a given string. It returns an array containing objects with the following properties:

• index: The starting index of the match in the string.
• length: The length of the match.
• If i is a valid group index, the corresponding group value will be included in the object.

Example Use Case

const regex = /(\w+)/g;
const str = "hello world";
const matches = regexToArray(regex, str);
console.log(matches); // Output: [{ index: 0, length: 5, '0': 'hello' }]