Trying to Validate URL Using JavaScript

Question

I want to validate a URL and display message. Below is my code:

$("#pageUrl").keydown(function(){
        $(".status").show();
        var url = $("#pageUrl").val();

        if(isValidURL(url)){

        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: "demo.php",
            data: "pageUrl="+ url,
            success: function(msg){
                if(msg == 1 ){
                    $(".status").html('<img src="images/success.gif"/><span><strong>SiteID:</strong>12345678901234456</span>');
                }else{
                    $(".status").html('<img src="images/failure.gif"/>');
                }
            }
            });

            }else{

                    $(".status").html('<img src="images/failure.gif"/>');
            }

    });


function isValidURL(url){
    var RegExp = /(ftp|http|https):\/\/(\w+:{0,1}\w*@)?(\S+)(:[0-9]+)?(\/|\/([\w#!:.?+=&%@!\-\/]))?/;

    if(RegExp.test(url)){
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
    }
} 

My problem is now it will show an error message even when entering a proper URL until it matches regular expression, and it return true even if the URL is something like "http://wwww".

I appreciate your suggestions.

Catricecatrina

Don't forget to also add a server-side checking as javascript checking can easily be hacked. – Asterism

It should be relatively easy to find a more reliable regex for URL matching (in javascript). On a side note, I would recommend not to capitalize variables (such as RegExp in your example) unless they are constructors/namespaces (which your variable isn't). Also don't forget that RegExp#test already returns boolean so you really don't need that if/else; just do - return re.test(url). – Libra

Note: The url "wwww"; is a valid url. You could have a host named wwww – Untraveled

The Jquery plugin Validation validates URL too. docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation/Methods/url – Fort

Google's Closure Library has a URL validator in the goog.string.linkify namespace which you can rip out from the source here: code.google.com/p/closure-library/source/browse/closure/goog/… Look at findFirstUrl(). – Ectoparasite

Check this link, some simple regex validation samples, including the one for URL, without forcing the string "www", and preventing any other characters before "http": lionfishtechnologies.com/developers/tips/… Thanks, Chris – Assembly

Possible duplicate of Check if a Javascript string is a url – Cancer

Answer 1

Someone mentioned the Jquery Validation plugin, seems overkill if you just want to validate the url, here is the line of regex from the plugin:

return this.optional(element) || /^(https?|ftp):\/\/(((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)*@)?(((\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]))|((([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.)+(([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.?)(:\d*)?)(\/((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)+(\/(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)?)?(\?((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|[\uE000-\uF8FF]|\/|\?)*)?(\#((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|\/|\?)*)?$/i.test(value);

Here is where they got it from: http://projects.scottsplayground.com/iri/

Pointed out by @nhahtdh This has been updated to:

        // Copyright (c) 2010-2013 Diego Perini, MIT licensed
        // https://gist.github.com/dperini/729294
        // see also https://mathiasbynens.be/demo/url-regex
        // modified to allow protocol-relative URLs
        return this.optional( element ) || /^(?:(?:(?:https?|ftp):)?\/\/)(?:\S+(?::\S*)?@)?(?:(?!(?:10|127)(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?!(?:169\.254|192\.168)(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?!172\.(?:1[6-9]|2\d|3[0-1])(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[01]\d|22[0-3])(?:\.(?:1?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])){2}(?:\.(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-4]))|(?:(?:[a-z\u00a1-\uffff0-9]-*)*[a-z\u00a1-\uffff0-9]+)(?:\.(?:[a-z\u00a1-\uffff0-9]-*)*[a-z\u00a1-\uffff0-9]+)*(?:\.(?:[a-z\u00a1-\uffff]{2,})).?)(?::\d{2,5})?(?:[/?#]\S*)?$/i.test( value );

source: https://github.com/jzaefferer/jquery-validation/blob/c1db10a34c0847c28a5bd30e3ee1117e137ca834/src/core.js#L1349

Wendall

The jQuery Validation's approach allows for underscores ("_") in domain names. As far as I've found out it is not allowed in domain names. Only hyphens are allowed ("-"). PHP's filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) seems to NOT allow underscores in domain names, for example. – Abbotsen

The \u00A0-\uD7FF range is overly broad. The quote characters like ” (\u201D) are in that range. For example, if first splitting on whitespace, the end of a quoted sentence may be 'this.”' If this isn't technically a false positive, it typically would be in practice if using this regex for identifying a url. – Etamine

@artfulhacker, You save me my friend (y). – Lynseylynus

The regex above has been replaced by Diego Perini's regex in the source of jQuery Validation: github.com/jzaefferer/jquery-validation/blob/master/src/… – Ovoviviparous

Thanks for this. Note that carets won't be allowed even in valid urls. For example, this working url (which has the caret ^ symbol in it) will come back as invalid: http://www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=GA%20Assoc%20of%20Fire%20Safety%20Equipment%20Dealers^mcnfs%60fsefsea%60132.00%60USD%60false%6010/14/15%6010/16/15%609/14/15&app=resvlink&stop_mobi=yes – Subscription

The regex has moved to line 1306 - github.com/jzaefferer/jquery-validation/blob/master/src/… – Slatternly

@Kousha: www.google.com is not a valid URL, so it should fail the test. – Adrianadriana

Answer 2

It's not practical to parse URLs using regex. A full implementation of the RFC1738 rules would result in an enormously long regex (assuming it's even possible). Certainly your current expression fails many valid URLs, and passes invalid ones.

Instead:

a. use a proper URL parser that actually follows the real rules. (I don't know of one for JavaScript; it would probably be overkill. You could do it on the server side though). Or,

b. just trim away any leading or trailing spaces, then check it has one of your preferred schemes on the front (typically ‘http://’ or ‘https://’), and leave it at that. Or,

c. attempt to use the URL and see what lies at the end, for example by sending it am HTTP HEAD request from the server-side. If you get a 404 or connection error, it's probably wrong.

it return true even if url is something like "http://wwww".

Well, that is indeed a perfectly valid URL.

If you want to check whether a hostname such as ‘wwww’ actually exists, you have no choice but to look it up in the DNS. Again, this would be server-side code.

Popeyed

Is this pragmatic? Yes. Does it answer the question or provide sufficient information for an implementation to be realized? No. – Crypto

For a regex to match IRIs (RFC 3987) pretty closely, see "Regular expression for W3C compliant URLs?". Note that this will match any IRIs not just URLs (RFC 1738) or URIs (RFC 3986). – Propraetor

Answer 3

function validateURL(textval) {
    var urlregex = /^(https?|ftp):\/\/([a-zA-Z0-9.-]+(:[a-zA-Z0-9.&%$-]+)*@)*((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9][0-9]?)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|[1-9]?[0-9])){3}|([a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.)*[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.(com|edu|gov|int|mil|net|org|biz|arpa|info|name|pro|aero|coop|museum|[a-zA-Z]{2}))(:[0-9]+)*(\/($|[a-zA-Z0-9.,?'\\+&%$#=~_-]+))*$/;
    return urlregex.test(textval);
}

This can return true for URLs like:

https://mcmap.net/q/74463/-trying-to-validate-url-using-javascript

or:

http://regexlib.com/DisplayPatterns.aspx?cattabindex=1&categoryId=2

Embryectomy

Why the RegExp constructor? A literal is fine here. Why assign the object to a variable? function validateURL(textval) { return /^(http...$/.test(textval) } is slightly shorter and clearer. – Cafeteria

[...&...] will not do what you expect. A character class doesn't allow for strings. – Bistort

This URL doesn't pass validation even though it's legal: uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/25/… (remove 20130225 from the end and it's valid) – Crusted

asdf.asdf is returning true with this one. Why? – Ministration

It all depends on what you understand by "valid URL". All examples you have given will work (considered valid) when pasted to browser address bar and will most likely fail (considered invalid), when used as value of <a href="">. – Rosenzweig

How to modify it @MoheshMohan to be more permissive to also allow www.example.com? (so that it would work as well as http://www.example.com) – Cancer

Answer 4

I written also a URL validation function base on rfc1738 and rfc3986 to check http and https urls. I try to hold this modular, so it can be better maintained and adapted to own requirements.

The RegExp in one line is show at end of this post.

The RegExp accept HTTP and HTTPS URLs with some international domain or IPv4 number. IPv6 is not supported yet.

window.isValidURL = (function() {// wrapped in self calling function to prevent global pollution

     //URL pattern based on rfc1738 and rfc3986
    var rg_pctEncoded = "%[0-9a-fA-F]{2}";
    var rg_protocol = "(http|https):\\/\\/";

    var rg_userinfo = "([a-zA-Z0-9$\\-_.+!*'(),;:&=]|" + rg_pctEncoded + ")+" + "@";

    var rg_decOctet = "(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])"; // 0-255
    var rg_ipv4address = "(" + rg_decOctet + "(\\." + rg_decOctet + "){3}" + ")";
    var rg_hostname = "([a-zA-Z0-9\\-\\u00C0-\\u017F]+\\.)+([a-zA-Z]{2,})";
    var rg_port = "[0-9]+";

    var rg_hostport = "(" + rg_ipv4address + "|localhost|" + rg_hostname + ")(:" + rg_port + ")?";

    // chars sets
    // safe           = "$" | "-" | "_" | "." | "+"
    // extra          = "!" | "*" | "'" | "(" | ")" | ","
    // hsegment       = *[ alpha | digit | safe | extra | ";" | ":" | "@" | "&" | "=" | escape ]
    var rg_pchar = "a-zA-Z0-9$\\-_.+!*'(),;:@&=";
    var rg_segment = "([" + rg_pchar + "]|" + rg_pctEncoded + ")*";

    var rg_path = rg_segment + "(\\/" + rg_segment + ")*";
    var rg_query = "\\?" + "([" + rg_pchar + "/?]|" + rg_pctEncoded + ")*";
    var rg_fragment = "\\#" + "([" + rg_pchar + "/?]|" + rg_pctEncoded + ")*";

    var rgHttpUrl = new RegExp( 
        "^"
        + rg_protocol
        + "(" + rg_userinfo + ")?"
        + rg_hostport
        + "(\\/"
        + "(" + rg_path + ")?"
        + "(" + rg_query + ")?"
        + "(" + rg_fragment + ")?"
        + ")?"
        + "$"
    );

    // export public function
    return function (url) {
        if (rgHttpUrl.test(url)) {
            return true;
        } else {
            return false;
        }
    };
})();

RegExp in one line:

var rg = /^(http|https):\/\/(([a-zA-Z0-9$\-_.+!*'(),;:&=]|%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})+@)?(((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1][0-9][0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|[0-9])){3})|localhost|([a-zA-Z0-9\-\u00C0-\u017F]+\.)+([a-zA-Z]{2,}))(:[0-9]+)?(\/(([a-zA-Z0-9$\-_.+!*'(),;:@&=]|%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})*(\/([a-zA-Z0-9$\-_.+!*'(),;:@&=]|%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})*)*)?(\?([a-zA-Z0-9$\-_.+!*'(),;:@&=\/?]|%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})*)?(\#([a-zA-Z0-9$\-_.+!*'(),;:@&=\/?]|%[0-9a-fA-F]{2})*)?)?$/;

Chromoprotein

This is great! Very helpful that you broke it down into different parts - I wouldn't want to just blindly trust a massive regex. – Hans

Answer 5

In a similar situation I got away with this:

someUtils.validateURL = function(url) {
    var parser = document.createElement('a');
    try {
        parser.href = url;
        return !!parser.hostname;
    } catch (e) {
        return false;
    }
};

i.e. why invent the wheel if browsers can do it for you? But, of course, this will only work in the browser.

there are various parts of parsed URL exactly how browser would interpret it:

parser.protocol; // => "http:"
parser.hostname; // => "example.com"
parser.port;     // => "8080"
parser.pathname; // => "/path/"
parser.search;   // => "?search=test"
parser.hash;     // => "#hash"
parser.host;     // => "example.com:3000"

Using these you can improve your validating function depending on the requirements. The only drawback is that it will accept relative URLs and use current page server's host and port. But you can use it for your advantage, by re-assembling the URL from parts and always passing it in full to your AJAX service.

What validateURL won't accept is invalid URL, e.g. http:\:8883 will return false, but :1234 is valid and is interpreted as http://pagehost.example.com/:1234 i.e. as a relative path.

UPDATE

This approach is no longer working with Chrome and other WebKit browsers. Even when URL is invalid, hostname is filled with some value, e.g. taken from base. It still helps to parse parts of URL, but will not allow to validate one.

Possible better no-own-parser approach is to use var parsedURL = new URL(url) and catch exceptions. See e.g. URL API. Supported by all major browsers and NodeJS, although still marked experimental.

Pongid

This will return TRUE for <script>alert();</script> – Theatheaceous

@Theatheaceous In modern browsers the approach in this answer is no longer working. Thanks for bringing attention to it. In fact, hostname is filled no matter what string you pass. – Pongid

Answer 6

best regex I found from http://angularjs.org/

var urlregex = /^(ftp|http|https):\/\/(\w+:{0,1}\w*@)?(\S+)(:[0-9]+)?(\/|\/([\w#!:.?+=&%@!\-\/]))?$/;

Cyrillic

If i test this:---- /^(ftp|http|https):\/\/(\w+:{0,1}\w*@)?(\S+)(:[0-9]+)?(\/|\/([\w#!:.?+=&%@!\-\/]))?$/.test('abc.com.com.com') It return true value. I think it should be allow only 2 .com in url. – Faraway

@Faraway That URL is valid, and clicking it will take you to some placeholder site – Hua

Answer 7

This is what worked for me:

function validateURL(value) {
    return /^(https?|ftp):\/\/(((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)*@)?(((\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])\.(\d|[1-9]\d|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5]))|((([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.)+(([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.?)(:\d*)?)(\/((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)+(\/(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)?)?(\?((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|[\uE000-\uF8FF]|\/|\?)*)?(\#((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|\/|\?)*)?$/i.test(value);
    }

from there is is just a matter of calling the function to get a true or false back:

validateURL(urltovalidate);

Aikens

Heads up, this will fail for ip addresses. – Isborne

Answer 8

I know it's quite an old question but since it does not have any accepted answer, I suggest you to use the URI.js framework: https://github.com/medialize/URI.js

You can use it to check for malformed URI using a try/catch block:

function isValidURL(url)
{
    try {
        (new URI(url));
        return true;
    }
    catch (e) {
        // Malformed URI
        return false;
    }
}

Of course it will consider something like "%@" as a well formed relative URI... So I suggest you read the URI.js API to perform more checks, for example if you want to make sure that the user entered a well formed absolute URL you may do like this:

function isValidURL(url)
{
    try {
        var uri = new URI(url);
        // URI has a scheme and a host
        return (!!uri.scheme() && !!uri.host());
    }
    catch (e) {
        // Malformed URI
        return false;
    }
}

Fan

it fails on htt://localhost:86/asdfghjkl – Deflexed

Your URL is valid, so the test returns true. I guess what you want to do is check that the protocol is http(s), then just add a !!uri.scheme().match(/^http(s?)$/) to the test. – Fan

Answer 9

The URL API can be used to validate the structure of a URL string.

An error is thrown when trying to serialise an invalid URL string into a URL object. This could be abstracted into a helper function (Typescript snippet below):

function isValidURL(URL: string) : boolean {
    try {
        new URL(string);
        return true;
    } catch (err) { return false; }
}

isValidURL('https://www.google.com'); // returns true
isValidURL('localhost:3000'); // returns true
isValidURL('not-a-valid-url'); // returns false
isValidURL('google.com'); // returns false (see footnote)

If you strictly want HTTP / web links to be valid, we can simply add a condition to the return statement:

...
    const url = new URL(string);
    return url.protocol === 'https:' || url.protocol === 'http:';
...

Granted, this approach comes with a few caveats:

• No support for the URL API in Internet Explorer (could be fixed with a polyfill)
• Without additional checks, URLs without either a protocol or port are seen as invalid (e.g. google.com is invalid but google.com:3000 is OK). This may be an unintended behaviour for some usecases.

Toot

Answer 10

Import in an npm package like

https://www.npmjs.com/package/valid-url

and use it to validate your url.

Cicerone

The github issues gives to think that the library lacks quality – Nonrestrictive

Answer 11

You can use the URL API that is recently standard. Browser support is sketchy at best, see the link. new URL(str) is guaranteed to throw TypeError for invalid URLs.

As stated above, http://wwww is a valid URL.

Christner

In 2023 the URL API is available in every browser and has been for years – Hua

Answer 12

If you're looking for a more reliable regex, check out RegexLib. Here's the page you'd probably be interested in:

http://regexlib.com/Search.aspx?k=url

As for the error messages showing while the person is still typing, change the event from keydown to blur and then it will only check once the person moves to the next element.

Demurrage

Answer 13

var RegExp = (/^HTTP|HTTP|http(s)?:\/\/(www\.)?[A-Za-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[A-Za-z0-9]+)*\.[A-Za-z]{2,40}(:[0-9]{1,40})?(\/.*)?$/);

Tolyl

Answer 14

My solution:

function isValidUrl(t)
{
    return t.match(/^(http|https|ftp):\/\/(([A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*)(\.[A-Z0-9][A-Z0-9_-]*)+)(:(\d+))?\/?/i)
}

Unclinch

Answer 15

Demo : http://jsbin.com/uzimeb/1/edit

function checkURL(value) {
    var urlregex = new RegExp("^(http|https|ftp)\://([a-zA-Z0-9\.\-]+(\:[a-zA-Z0-9\.&%\$\-]+)*@)*((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{2}|[1-9]{1}[0-9]{1}|[1-9])\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{2}|[1-9]{1}[0-9]{1}|[1-9]|0)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{2}|[1-9]{1}[0-9]{1}|[1-9]|0)\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[0-1]{1}[0-9]{2}|[1-9]{1}[0-9]{1}|[0-9])|([a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.)*[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.(com|edu|gov|int|mil|net|org|biz|arpa|info|name|pro|aero|coop|museum|[a-zA-Z]{2}))(\:[0-9]+)*(/($|[a-zA-Z0-9\.\,\?\'\\\+&%\$#\=~_\-]+))*$");
    if (urlregex.test(value)) {
        return (true);
    }
    return (false);
}

Divisor

Answer 16

I have found a great resource for comparing different solutions: https://mathiasbynens.be/demo/url-regex

According to that page, only solution from diegoperini passes all tests. Here is that regex:

_^(?:(?:https?|ftp)://)(?:\S+(?::\S*)?@)?(?:(?!10(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?!127(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?!169\.254(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?!192\.168(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?!172\.(?:1[6-9]|2\d|3[0-1])(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[01]\d|22[0-3])(?:\.(?:1?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])){2}(?:\.(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-4]))|(?:(?:[a-z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+-?)*[a-z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+)(?:\.(?:[a-z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+-?)*[a-z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}0-9]+)*(?:\.(?:[a-z\x{00a1}-\x{ffff}]{2,})))(?::\d{2,5})?(?:/[^\s]*)?$_iuS

Heribertoheringer

Answer 17

I checked a lot of url validators in google and no one works for me. For example I'd like to see valid on links like 'aa.com'. I like silly check for dot sign in string.

function isValidUri(str) {
  var dotIndex = str.indexOf('.');
  return (dotIndex > 0 && dotIndex < str.length - 2);
}

It should not stay on beginning and end of string (for now we don't have top level domain names with one character).

Privateer

This matches plenty of things that are not valid URIs, and also fails to match many valid URIs. Matches `"Hello world.", does not match "http://a" – Hua

Answer 18

Just adding up to the lovely regex from Diego Perini.

With this function you can check for relative, protocol-relative and absolute URLs.

/**
 * Function to check if the given string is a valid URL. It may give false results in extreme cases.
 * Derived from {@link https://gist.github.com/dperini/729294 Diego Perini} regex
 * @param {*} url The string to check
 * @param {*} strictness Defines the level of strictness in the check of the URL; 0 is the most permissive, 2 is the most strict. Default is 1.
 * @returns true if the given string is formatted like an URL
*/
export function isURL(str, strictness= 1){
    
    if(!( (typeof str !== 'undefined' && str !== null) && ( typeof str === 'string' || str instanceof String ))){
        throw new Error('The passed value is not a string');
    }
    if(strictness < 0 || strictness > 2){
        throw new Error('Strictness range is 0 to 2');
    }
    if(!Number.isInteger(strictness)){
        throw new Error('Strictness must be an integer number');
    }

    //> Generic Checks  
    if (/[^a-z0-9\:\/\?\#\[\]\@\!\$\&\'\(\)\*\+\,\;\=\.\-\_\~\%]/i.test(str)) return false;

    if(strictness==0 ){//> relative path fix
        str = str.replace(/^(.\/)|(.\.\/)+/g,'https://www.temp.com/');
        str = str.replace(/localhost/,'www.temp.com')
    }
    if(strictness<=1 && !!!str.match(/^(?:(?:(?:https?|ftp):)?\/\/)/) ){//> protocol-relative path fix
        str = 'https://' + str;
    }

    return !!str.match(/^(?:(?:(?:https?|ftp):)?\/\/)(?:\S+(?::\S*)?@)?(?:(?!(?:10|127)(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?!(?:169\.254|192\.168)(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?!172\.(?:1[6-9]|2\d|3[0-1])(?:\.\d{1,3}){2})(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[01]\d|22[0-3])(?:\.(?:1?\d{1,2}|2[0-4]\d|25[0-5])){2}(?:\.(?:[1-9]\d?|1\d\d|2[0-4]\d|25[0-4]))|(?:(?:[a-z0-9\u00a1-\uffff][a-z0-9\u00a1-\uffff_-]{0,62})?[a-z0-9\u00a1-\uffff]\.)+(?:[a-z\u00a1-\uffff]{2,}\.?))(?::\d{2,5})?(?:[/?#]\S*)?$/i);        
}

Strictness range is:

• 0 : Allow relative URLs like "./path/to.html" and "../../path/to". + It allows localhost paths
• 1 : Doesn't allow lvl 0 URLs but allow URLs without the protocol (e.g. www.temp.com, temp.com/path/)
• 2 : Allows only absolute URLs with the protocol (e.g. https://www.temp.com)

Summerly

Answer 19

Here's a regular expression which might fit the bill (it's very long):

/^(?:\u0066\u0069\u006C\u0065\u003A\u002F{2}(?:\u002F{2}(?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*\u0040)?(?:\u005B(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){6}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){5}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){4}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A)?[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,3}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,4}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,5}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,6}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2})\u005D|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?\u002E)+[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?))(?:\u003A(?:\u0030-\u0035\u0030-\u0039{0,4}|\u0036\u0030-\u0034\u0030-\u0039{3}|\u0036\u0035\u0030-\u0034\u0030-\u0039{2}|\u0036\u0035\u0035\u0030-\u0032\u0030-\u0039|\u0036\u0035\u0035\u0033\u0030-\u0035))?(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*|\u002F(?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])+(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*)?|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])+(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*)|[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A][\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002B\u002D\u002E]*\u003A(?:\u002F{2}(?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*\u0040)?(?:\u005B(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){6}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){5}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){4}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A)?[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,3}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,4}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035]))|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,5}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4}\u003A){0,6}[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066]{1,4})?\u003A{2})\u005D|(?:(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])\u002E){3}(?:[\u0030-\u0039]|[\u0031-\u0039][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0031[\u0030-\u0039]{2}|\u0032[\u0030-\u0034][\u0030-\u0039]|\u0032\u0035[\u0030-\u0035])|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?\u002E)+[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039](?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D]+)?[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039])?))(?:\u003A(?:\u0030-\u0035\u0030-\u0039{0,4}|\u0036\u0030-\u0034\u0030-\u0039{3}|\u0036\u0035\u0030-\u0034\u0030-\u0039{2}|\u0036\u0035\u0035\u0030-\u0032\u0030-\u0039|\u0036\u0035\u0035\u0033\u0030-\u0035))?(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*|\u002F(?:(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])+(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*)?|(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])+(?:\u002F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)*)(?:\u003F(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040\u002F\u003F]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)?(?:\u0023(?:[\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u0030-\u0039\u002D\u002E\u005F\u007E\u0021\u0024\u0026\u0027\u0028\u0029\u002A\u002B\u002C\u003B\u003D\u003A\u0040\u002F\u003F]|\u0025[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066][\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u0046\u0061-\u0066])*)?)$/

There are some caveats to its usage, namely it does not validate URIs which contain additional information after the user name (e.g. "username:password"). Also, only IPv6 addresses can be contained within the IP literal syntax and the "IPvFuture" syntax is currently ignored and will not validate against this regular expression. Port numbers are also constrained to be between 0 and 65,535. Also, only the file scheme can use triple slashes (e.g. "file:///etc/sysconfig") and can ignore both the query and fragment parts of a URI. Finally, it is geared towards regular URIs and not IRIs, hence the extensive focus on the ASCII character set.

This regular expression could be expanded upon, but it's already complex and long enough as it is. I also cannot guarantee it's going to be "100% accurate" or "bug free", but it should correctly validate URIs for all schemes.

You will need to do additional verification for any scheme-specific requirements or do URI normalization as this regular expression will validate a very broad range of URIs.

Midterm

Answer 20

Try edit your isValidURL function as follows:

function isValidURL(url) {
    var encodedURL = encodeURIComponent(url);
    var isValid = false;

    $.ajax({
      url: "http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q=select%20*%20from%20html%20where%20url%3D%22" + encodedURL + "%22&format=json",
      type: "get",
      async: false,
      dataType: "json",
      success: function(data) {
        isValid = data.query.results != null;
      },
      error: function(){
        isValid = false;
      }
    });

    return isValid;
}

This should do the trick.

Speedometer

since ajax is async, isValid would return always false, right? – Honeysweet

No. Ajax is async, but take a look at the call. It specifies "async: false". – Speedometer

Synchronous calls are best avoided because of their performance implications. Also problematic is that the function here will return incorrect results if your network is down. In addition, it will also leak all your urls to yahoo. – Regress