|  |  |  |  | # regexpu-core [](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/regexpu-core/actions?query=workflow%3Arun-checks) [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/regexpu-core)
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							|  |  |  |  | _regexpu_ is a source code transpiler that enables the use of ES2015 Unicode regular expressions in JavaScript-of-today (ES5). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | _regexpu-core_ contains _regexpu_’s core functionality, i.e. `rewritePattern(pattern, flag)`, which enables rewriting regular expressions that make use of [the ES2015 `u` flag](https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/es6-unicode-regex) into equivalent ES5-compatible regular expression patterns. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ## Installation
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							|  |  |  |  | To use _regexpu-core_ programmatically, install it as a dependency via [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/): | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ```bash | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | npm install regexpu-core --save | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | Then, `require` it: | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | const rewritePattern = require('regexpu-core'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ## API
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							|  |  |  |  | This module exports a single function named `rewritePattern`. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ### `rewritePattern(pattern, flags, options)`
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							|  |  |  |  | This function takes a string that represents a regular expression pattern as well as a string representing its flags, and returns an ES5-compatible version of the pattern. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | rewritePattern('foo.bar', 'u'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // → 'foo(?:[\\0-\\t\\x0B\\f\\x0E-\\u2027\\u202A-\\uD7FF\\uDC00-\\uFFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF][\\uDC00-\\uDFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF])bar' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | rewritePattern('[\\u{1D306}-\\u{1D308}a-z]', 'u'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // → '(?:[a-z]|\\uD834[\\uDF06-\\uDF08])' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | rewritePattern('[\\u{1D306}-\\u{1D308}a-z]', 'ui'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // → '(?:[a-z\\u017F\\u212A]|\\uD834[\\uDF06-\\uDF08])' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | _regexpu-core_ can rewrite non-ES6 regular expressions too, which is useful to demonstrate how their behavior changes once the `u` and `i` flags are added: | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // In ES5, the dot operator only matches BMP symbols: | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | rewritePattern('foo.bar'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // → 'foo(?:[\\0-\\t\\x0B\\f\\x0E-\\u2027\\u202A-\\uFFFF])bar' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | // But with the ES2015 `u` flag, it matches astral symbols too: | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | rewritePattern('foo.bar', 'u'); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | // → 'foo(?:[\\0-\\t\\x0B\\f\\x0E-\\u2027\\u202A-\\uD7FF\\uDC00-\\uFFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF][\\uDC00-\\uDFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF])bar' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | The optional `options` argument recognizes the following properties: | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | #### Stable regular expression features
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							|  |  |  |  | These options can be set to `false` or `'transform'`. When using `'transform'`, the corresponding features are compiled to older syntax that can run in older browsers. When using `false` (the default), they are not compiled and they can be relied upon to compile more modern features. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | - `unicodeFlag` - The `u` flag, enabling support for Unicode code point escapes in the form `\u{...}`. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('\\u{ab}', '', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '\\u{ab}' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('\\u{ab}', 'u', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '\\xAB' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | - `dotAllFlag` - The [`s` (`dotAll`) flag](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/es-regexp-dotall-flag). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('.', '', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     dotAllFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '[\\0-\\t\\x0B\\f\\x0E-\\u2027\\u202A-\\uFFFF]' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('.', 's', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     dotAllFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '[\\0-\\uFFFF]' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('.', 'su', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     dotAllFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '(?:[\\0-\\uD7FF\\uE000-\\uFFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF][\\uDC00-\\uDFFF]|[\\uD800-\\uDBFF](?![\\uDC00-\\uDFFF])|(?:[^\\uD800-\\uDBFF]|^)[\\uDC00-\\uDFFF])' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | - `unicodePropertyEscapes` - [Unicode property escapes](property-escapes.md). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   By default they are compiled to Unicode code point escapes of the form `\u{...}`. If the `unicodeFlag` option is set to `'transform'` they often result in larger output, although there are cases (such as `\p{Lu}`) where it actually _decreases_ the output size. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('\\p{Script_Extensions=Anatolian_Hieroglyphs}', 'u', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodePropertyEscapes: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '[\\u{14400}-\\u{14646}]' | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('\\p{Script_Extensions=Anatolian_Hieroglyphs}', 'u', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeFlag: 'transform', | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodePropertyEscapes: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '(?:\\uD811[\\uDC00-\\uDE46])' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | - `namedGroups` - [Named capture groups](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-regexp-named-groups). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('(?<name>.)\\k<name>', '', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     namedGroups: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '(.)\1' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | #### Experimental regular expression features
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							|  |  |  |  | These options can be set to `false`, `'parse'` and `'transform'`. When using `'transform'`, the corresponding features are compiled to older syntax that can run in older browsers. When using `'parse'`, they are parsed and left as-is in the output pattern. When using `false` (the default), they result in a syntax error if used. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | Once these features become stable (when the proposals are accepted as part of ECMAScript), they will be parsed by default and thus `'parse'` will behave like `false`. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | - `unicodeSetsFlag` - [The `v` (`unicodeSets`) flag](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-regexp-set-notation) | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('[\\p{Emoji}&&\\p{ASCII}]', 'u', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeSetsFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '[#\*0-9]' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   By default, patterns with the `v` flag are transformed to patterns with the `u` flag. If you want to downlevel them more you can set the `unicodeFlag: 'transform'` option. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('[^[a-h]&&[f-z]]', 'v', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeSetsFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '[^f-h]' (to be used with /u) | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('[^[a-h]&&[f-z]]', 'v', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeSetsFlag: 'transform', | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     unicodeFlag: 'transform' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   // → '(?:(?![f-h])[\s\S])' (to be used without /u) | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | #### Miscellaneous options
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							|  |  |  |  | - `onNamedGroup` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   This option is a function that gets called when a named capture group is found. It receives two parameters: | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   the name of the group, and its index. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |   ```js | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   rewritePattern('(?<name>.)\\k<name>', '', { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     onNamedGroup(name, index) { | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |       console.log(name, index); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |       // → 'name', 1 | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     } | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   }); | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |   ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ### Caveats
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							|  |  |  |  | - [Lookbehind assertions](https://github.com/tc39/proposal-regexp-lookbehind) cannot be transformed to older syntax. | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | - When using `namedGroups: 'transform'`, _regexpu-core_ only takes care of the _syntax_: you will still need a runtime wrapper around the regular expression to populate the `.groups` property of `RegExp.prototype.match()`'s result. If you are using _regexpu-core_ via Babel, it's handled automatically. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ## For maintainers
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							|  |  |  |  | ### How to publish a new release
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							|  |  |  |  | 1. On the `main` branch, bump the version number in `package.json`: | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |     ```sh | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     npm version patch -m 'Release v%s' | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |     Instead of `patch`, use `minor` or `major` [as needed](https://semver.org/). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |     Note that this produces a Git commit + tag. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | 1. Push the release commit and tag: | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |     ```sh | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     git push --follow-tags | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  |     ``` | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  |     Our CI then automatically publishes the new release to npm. | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | 1. Once the release has been published to npm, update [`regexpu`](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/regexpu) to make use of it, and [cut a new release of `regexpu` as well](https://github.com/mathiasbynens/regexpu#how-to-publish-a-new-release). | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ## Author
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							|  |  |  |  | | [](https://twitter.com/mathias "Follow @mathias on Twitter") | | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | |---| | 
					
						
							|  |  |  |  | | [Mathias Bynens](https://mathiasbynens.be/) | | 
					
						
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							|  |  |  |  | ## License
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							|  |  |  |  | _regexpu-core_ is available under the [MIT](https://mths.be/mit) license. |