# regex-not [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/regex-not) [](https://npmjs.org/package/regex-not) [](https://npmjs.org/package/regex-not) [](https://travis-ci.org/jonschlinkert/regex-not) > Create a javascript regular expression for matching everything except for the given string. Please consider following this project's author, [Jon Schlinkert](https://github.com/jonschlinkert), and consider starring the project to show your :heart: and support. ## Install Install with [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/): ```sh $ npm install --save regex-not ``` ## Usage ```js var not = require('regex-not'); ``` The main export is a function that takes a string an options object. ```js not(string[, options]); ``` **Example** ```js var not = require('regex-not'); console.log(not('foo')); //=> /^(?:(?!^(?:foo)$).)+$/ ``` **Strict matching** By default, the returned regex is for strictly (not) matching the exact given pattern (in other words, "match this string if it does NOT _exactly equal_ `foo`"): ```js var re = not('foo'); console.log(re.test('foo')); //=> false console.log(re.test('bar')); //=> true console.log(re.test('foobar')); //=> true console.log(re.test('barfoo')); //=> true ``` ### .create Returns a string to allow you to create your own regex: ```js console.log(not.create('foo')); //=> '(?:(?!^(?:foo)$).)+' ``` ### Options **options.contains** You can relax strict matching by setting `options.contains` to true (in other words, "match this string if it does NOT _contain_ `foo`"): ```js var re = not('foo'); console.log(re.test('foo', {contains: true})); //=> false console.log(re.test('bar', {contains: true})); //=> true console.log(re.test('foobar', {contains: true})); //=> false console.log(re.test('barfoo', {contains: true})); //=> false ``` ## About <details> <summary><strong>Contributing</strong></summary> Pull requests and stars are always welcome. For bugs and feature requests, [please create an issue](../../issues/new). </details> <details> <summary><strong>Running Tests</strong></summary> Running and reviewing unit tests is a great way to get familiarized with a library and its API. You can install dependencies and run tests with the following command: ```sh $ npm install && npm test ``` </details> <details> <summary><strong>Building docs</strong></summary> _(This project's readme.md is generated by [verb](https://github.com/verbose/verb-generate-readme), please don't edit the readme directly. Any changes to the readme must be made in the [.verb.md](.verb.md) readme template.)_ To generate the readme, run the following command: ```sh $ npm install -g verbose/verb#dev verb-generate-readme && verb ``` </details> ### Related projects You might also be interested in these projects: * [regex-cache](https://www.npmjs.com/package/regex-cache): Memoize the results of a call to the RegExp constructor, avoiding repetitious runtime compilation of… [more](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/regex-cache) | [homepage](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/regex-cache "Memoize the results of a call to the RegExp constructor, avoiding repetitious runtime compilation of the same string and options, resulting in surprising performance improvements.") * [to-regex](https://www.npmjs.com/package/to-regex): Generate a regex from a string or array of strings. | [homepage](https://github.com/jonschlinkert/to-regex "Generate a regex from a string or array of strings.") ### Contributors | **Commits** | **Contributor** | | --- | --- | | 9 | [jonschlinkert](https://github.com/jonschlinkert) | | 1 | [doowb](https://github.com/doowb) | | 1 | [EdwardBetts](https://github.com/EdwardBetts) | ### Author **Jon Schlinkert** * [linkedin/in/jonschlinkert](https://linkedin.com/in/jonschlinkert) * [github/jonschlinkert](https://github.com/jonschlinkert) * [twitter/jonschlinkert](https://twitter.com/jonschlinkert) ### License Copyright © 2018, [Jon Schlinkert](https://github.com/jonschlinkert). Released under the [MIT License](LICENSE). *** _This file was generated by [verb-generate-readme](https://github.com/verbose/verb-generate-readme), v0.6.0, on February 19, 2018._