Question

What will be the result when non greedy repetition is used on the pattern /a+?b/?

(a) Matches the letter b preceded by the fewest number of a’s possible

(b) Matches the letter b preceded by any number of a

(c) Matches letter a preceded by letter b, in the stack order

(d) Matches letter a present in the string

I got this question in an interview.

The question is from Pattern Matching and Regular Expressions in portion Classes and Modules in JavaScript of JavaScript

Answer 1

The correct option is (a) Matches the letter b preceded by the fewest number of a’s possible

The best explanation: Using non greedy repetition may not always produce the results you expect. /a+?b/ matches the letter b preceded by the fewest number of a’s possible.