1# balanced-match 2 3Match balanced string pairs, like `{` and `}` or `<b>` and `</b>`. Supports regular expressions as well! 4 5[![build status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/juliangruber/balanced-match.svg)](http://travis-ci.org/juliangruber/balanced-match) 6[![downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dm/balanced-match.svg)](https://www.npmjs.org/package/balanced-match) 7 8[![testling badge](https://ci.testling.com/juliangruber/balanced-match.png)](https://ci.testling.com/juliangruber/balanced-match) 9 10## Example 11 12Get the first matching pair of braces: 13 14```js 15var balanced = require('balanced-match'); 16 17console.log(balanced('{', '}', 'pre{in{nested}}post')); 18console.log(balanced('{', '}', 'pre{first}between{second}post')); 19console.log(balanced(/\s+\{\s+/, /\s+\}\s+/, 'pre { in{nest} } post')); 20``` 21 22The matches are: 23 24```bash 25$ node example.js 26{ start: 3, end: 14, pre: 'pre', body: 'in{nested}', post: 'post' } 27{ start: 3, 28 end: 9, 29 pre: 'pre', 30 body: 'first', 31 post: 'between{second}post' } 32{ start: 3, end: 17, pre: 'pre', body: 'in{nest}', post: 'post' } 33``` 34 35## API 36 37### var m = balanced(a, b, str) 38 39For the first non-nested matching pair of `a` and `b` in `str`, return an 40object with those keys: 41 42* **start** the index of the first match of `a` 43* **end** the index of the matching `b` 44* **pre** the preamble, `a` and `b` not included 45* **body** the match, `a` and `b` not included 46* **post** the postscript, `a` and `b` not included 47 48If there's no match, `undefined` will be returned. 49 50If the `str` contains more `a` than `b` / there are unmatched pairs, the first match that was closed will be used. For example, `{{a}` will match `['{', 'a', '']` and `{a}}` will match `['', 'a', '}']`. 51 52### var r = balanced.range(a, b, str) 53 54For the first non-nested matching pair of `a` and `b` in `str`, return an 55array with indexes: `[ <a index>, <b index> ]`. 56 57If there's no match, `undefined` will be returned. 58 59If the `str` contains more `a` than `b` / there are unmatched pairs, the first match that was closed will be used. For example, `{{a}` will match `[ 1, 3 ]` and `{a}}` will match `[0, 2]`. 60 61## Installation 62 63With [npm](https://npmjs.org) do: 64 65```bash 66npm install balanced-match 67``` 68 69## Security contact information 70 71To report a security vulnerability, please use the 72[Tidelift security contact](https://tidelift.com/security). 73Tidelift will coordinate the fix and disclosure. 74 75## License 76 77(MIT) 78 79Copyright (c) 2013 Julian Gruber <julian@juliangruber.com> 80 81Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of 82this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in 83the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to 84use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies 85of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do 86so, subject to the following conditions: 87 88The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all 89copies or substantial portions of the Software. 90 91THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 92IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 93FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 94AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER 95LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, 96OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE 97SOFTWARE. 98