Extract numbers from a string using javascript

Question

I'd like to extract the numbers from the following string via javascript/jquery:

"ch2sl4"

problem is that the string could also look like this:

"ch10sl4"

or this

"ch2sl10"

I'd like to store the 2 numbers in 2 variables. Is there any way to use match so it extracts the numbers before and after "sl"? Would match even be the correct function to do the extraction?

Thx

Answer 1

Yes, match is the way to go:

var matches = str.match(/(\d+)sl(\d+)/);
var number1 = Number(matches[1]);
var number2 = Number(matches[2]);

Answer 2

If the string is always going to look like this: "ch[num1]sl[num2]", you can easily get the numbers without a regex like so:

var numbers = str.substr(2).split('sl');
//chop off leading ch---/\   /\-- use sl to split the string into 2 parts.

In the case of "ch2sl4", numbers will look like this: ["2", "4"], coerce them to numbers like so: var num1 = +(numbers[0]), or numbers.map(function(a){ return +(a);}.

If the string parts are variable, this does it all in one fell swoop:

var str = 'ch2fsl4';
var numbers = str.match(/[0-9]+/g).map(function(n)
{//just coerce to numbers
    return +(n);
});
console.log(numbers);//[2,4]