Javascript filter strings by matching input?

Question

What is the most efficient way to filter a list of strings character by character?

var term = "Mike";
angular.forEach($scope.contacts, function(contact, key) {

    // if I had the whole term and 
    // contact.name == Mike then this is true
    contact.name == term;

});

The above would be fine, but if I am building a search how can I filter character by character?

var term = "Mi";
angular.forEach($scope.contacts, function(contact, key) {

    // contact.name == Mike, but term == Mi how can I get this to return true?
    contact.name == term;

});

You really have to define what a partial match would mean, so for your last example there, would "Tommie" be a valid match? Depending on the rules you come up with there are lots of different ways to do this. — CodingGorilla
– CodingGorilla, Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 15:33

AmmarCSE · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-14 15:36:59Z

5

Use indexOf

var term = "Mi";
angular.forEach($scope.contacts, function(contact, key) {

    // contact.name == Mike, but term == Mi how can I get this to return true?
    contact.name.indexOf(term) > -1;

});

If you want case insensitive testing, you can do

    var term = "Mi";
    var regex = new RegExp(term, 'i');

    angular.forEach($scope.contacts, function(contact, key) {

        // contact.name == Mike, but term == Mi how can I get this to return true?
        regex.test(contact.name);

    });

edited Jan 14, 2016 at 15:36

answered Jan 14, 2016 at 15:32

AmmarCSE

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5 Comments

Halcyon Over a year ago

Your case-insensitive solution uses a regular expression, this can change the meaning of term for characters with special meaning in the regular expression language. Instead consider converting both values to the same case (ie. toLowerCase()) and do an indexOf.

Michael Joseph Aubry Over a year ago

Great advice Halcyon, definitely will do that now :)

AmmarCSE Over a year ago

@Halcyon, I am not sure what you mean by this can change the meaning of term. Do you mean linguistically, or will there be unintended side effects programmatically?

Halcyon Over a year ago

If term is Mi* you will match mi, miii but also m.

AmmarCSE Over a year ago

@Halcyon, sorry, still not understanding :-). Doing this in the console new RegExp('Mi', 'i').test('m') gives me false

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