Whole word match in JavaScript in an Array

Question

I've looked high and low for this, with no real idea how to do it now... my scenario:

 var strArray = ['Email Address'];

 function searchStringInArray(str, strArray) {
     for (var j = 0; j < strArray.length; j++) {
        if (strArray[j].match(str)) return j;
     }
     return -1;
 }

 var match = searchStringInArray('Email', strArray);

Email does NOT equal Email Address... however .match() seems to match the two up, when it shouldn't. I want it to match the exact string. Anyone have any idea how I do this?

Answer 1

You already have .indexOf() for the same thing you are trying to do.

So rather than looping over, why not use:

 var match = strArray.indexOf('Email');

Answer 2

String.match is treating your parameter 'Email' as if it is a regular expression. Just use == instead:

      if (strArray[j] == str) return j;

From the Mozilla Development Network page on String.match :

If a non-RegExp object obj is passed, it is implicitly converted to a RegExp by using new RegExp(obj)

Answer 3

Alternatively using RegExp

Use ^ and $

var str = "Email";
new RegExp(str).test("Email address")

Result: true

And for this:

var str = "Email";
new RegExp("^" + str + "$").test("Email address")

Result: false