jQuery selector :contains - Use regular expressions

Question

I am trying to implement search functionality for a list using jQuery. I am using following line to filter matching elements

$(list).find("a:contains(" + filter + ")").parent().show();

This shows all the elements which contain "filter" text. I want to show only those elements in which words start with "filter" text.

I am thinking of using regular expression for this.

Is there any way to pass regular expression to :contains selector? Or can this be achieved in any other way?

Answer 1

You need to use .filter(), but the good news is you don't need a regular expression:

$(list).find("a").filter(function () {
    return (this.textContent || this.innerText || '').indexOf(filter) === 0;
}).parent().show();