Check for special characters in string

Question

I want to check if a string contains special characters like !@#$%^&*.,<>/\'";:? and return true if the string contains atleast one of those chars.

I tried with the following regex,script:

var format = /^[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]*$/;  if( string.match(format) ){   return true; }else{   return false; } 

If the string contains only the special characters then it returns true , but if the string contains something else like alphanumeric chars ( !example1 , .example2 ) it returns false.

Answer 1

I suggest using RegExp .test() function to check for a pattern match, and the only thing you need to change is remove the start/end of line anchors (and the * quantifier is also redundant) in the regex:

var format = /[ `!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?~]/;  //            ^                                       ^     document.write(format.test("My@string-with(some%text)") + "<br/>");  document.write(format.test("My string with spaces") + "<br/>");  document.write(format.test("MyStringContainingNoSpecialChars"));

The anchors (like ^ start of string/line, $ end od string/line and \b word boundaries) can restrict matches at specific places in a string. When using ^ the regex engine checks if the next subpattern appears right at the start of the string (or line if /m modifier is declared in the regex). Same case with $: the preceding subpattern should match right at the end of the string.

In your case, you want to check the existence of the special character from the set anywhere in the string. Even if it is only one, you want to return false. Thus, you should remove the anchors, and the quantifier *. The * quantifier would match even an empty string, thus we must remove it in order to actually check for the presence of at least 1 special character (actually, without any quantifiers we check for exactly one occurrence, same as if we were using {1} limiting quantifier).

More specific solutions

What characters are "special" for you?

• All chars other than ASCII chars: /[^\x00-\x7F]/ (demo)
• All chars other than printable ASCII chars: /[^ -~]/ (demo)
• Any printable ASCII chars other than space, letters and digits: /[!-\/:-@[-`{-~]/ (demo)
• Any Unicode punctuation proper chars, the \p{P} Unicode property class:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{P}/u
  • ES6+:

/[!-#%-*,-\/:;?@[-\]_{}\u00A1\u00A7\u00AB\u00B6\u00B7\u00BB\u00BF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173E}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3B}\u{16B44}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9F}\u{1DA87}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[!-#%-\*,-\/:;\?@\[-\]_\{\}\xA1\xA7\xAB\xB6\xB7\xBB\xBF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3E]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3B\uDF44]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F\uDC9F|\uD836[\uDE87-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F])/

• All Unicode symbols (not punctuation proper), \p{S}:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{S}/u
  • ES6+:

/[$+^`|~\u00A2-\u00A6\u00A8\u00A9\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B8\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{10AC8}\u{1173F}\u{16B3C}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B45}\u{1BC9C}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}\u{1DA86}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[$+^`|~\xA2-\xA6\xA8\xA9\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB8\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC]|\uD802[\uDC77\uDC78\uDEC8]|\uD805\uDF3F|\uD81A[\uDF3C-\uDF3F\uDF45]|\uD82F\uDC9C|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85\uDE86]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/

• All Unicode punctuation and symbols, \p{P} and \p{S}:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /[\p{P}\p{S}]/u
  • ES6+:

/[!-\/:-@[-`{-~\u00A1-\u00A9\u00AB\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B6-\u00B8\u00BB\u00BF\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AC8}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173F}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B44}\u{16B45}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9C}\u{1BC9F}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[!-\/:-@\[-`\{-~\xA1-\xA9\xAB\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB6-\xB8\xBB\xBF\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDC77\uDC78\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEC8\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3F]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3F\uDF44\uDF45]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F[\uDC9C\uDC9F]|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/

Answer 2

Your regexp use ^ and $ so it tries to match the entire string. And if you want only a boolean as the result, use test instead of match.

var format = /[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]+/;  if(format.test(string)){   return true; } else {   return false; }