Accomodate multiple values using regex in Javascript

Question

I have regex string /^(?:\[)(.*)(?:\|)(.*)(?:\|)(.*)(?:\|)(.*)(?:\|)(.*)(?:\])$/ that captures the following value [john|doe|doe@email.com|doe_avatar|manager]. I also like to capture the value with [john|doe|doe@email.com|doe_avatar] using the same regex for both. How can I do that in Javascript?

Answer 1

Yes, this is doable with a single regex, by enclosing the last segment and its accompanying pipe \| in an additional, optional, non-capturing group ((?:……)?).

const regex =
    /^(?:\[)(.*?)(?:\|)(.*?)(?:\|)(.*?)(?:\|)(.*?)(?:(?:\|)(.*?))?(?:\])$/

const rows = [
    '[john|doe|doe@email.com|doe_avatar|manager]',
    '[jane|doe|jane@email.com|jane_avatar]',
]

const parse = str => {
    const m = str.match(regex)
    
    if (!m) return null
    
    const [fullMatch, forename, surname, email, avatar, role] = m
    
    return { fullMatch, forename, surname, email, avatar, role }
}

console.log(rows.map(parse))

As @CertainPerformance mentions below, the results from the final capturing group will be undefined if the match isn't present