JavaScript | RegExp \W Metacharacter

Last Updated : 22 Apr, 2019

The RegExp \W Metacharacter in JavaScript is used to find the non word character i.e. characters which are not from a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9. It is same as [^a-zA-Z0-9].

Syntax:

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/\W/

new RegExp("\\W")

Syntax with modifiers:

/\W/g

new RegExp("\\W", "g")

Example 1: This example searches the non words characters.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<head>
    <title>
        JavaScript RegExp \W Metacharacter
    </title>
</head>
  
<body style="text-align:center">
      
    <h1 style="color:green">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1>
      
    <h2>RegExp \W Metacharacter</h2>
      
    <p>
        Input String: GeeksforGeeks@_123_$
    </p>
      
    <button onclick="geek()">
        Click it!
    </button>
      
    <p id="app"></p>
      
    <script>
        function geek() {
            var str1 = "GeeksforGeeks@_123_$";
            var regex4 = /\W/g;
            var match4 = str1.match(regex4);
  
            document.getElementById("app").innerHTML = 
                        "Found " + match4.length
                        + " matches: " + match4;
        }
    </script>
</body>
  
</html>                    

Output:
Before Clicking the button:
backW
After Clicking the button:
backW

Example 2: This example searches the non-word characters in the whole string.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  
<head>
    <title>
        JavaScript RegExp \W Metacharacter
    </title>
</head>
  
<body style="text-align:center">
      
    <h1 style="color:green">
        GeeksforGeeks
    </h1>
      
    <h2>RegExp \W Metacharacter</h2>
      
    <p>Input String: Geeky@128</p>
      
    <button onclick="geek()">
        Click it!
    </button>
      
    <p id="app"></p>
      
    <script>
        function geek() {
            var str1 = "Geeky@128";         
            var regex4 = new RegExp("\\W", "g");
            var match4 = str1.match(regex4);
  
            document.getElementById("app").innerHTML =
                        "Found " + match4.length
                        + " matches: " + match4;
        }
    </script>
</body>
  
</html>                    