Regex Routes in Express.js

If you want to use regex for an Express.js route rule then you must use a JS regular expression object instead if string by wrapping your regular expression in slashes (/) instead of quotes ("). To look at a common usage example, let’s say you want the same route handler for two different root paths in your app, like /rest/* and /api/*.

String Routing Rules

Express uses path-to-regexp to simplify the process of writing routing rules. path-to-regex is what turns rules like /order/:id or /post/:id into a RegEx pattern for matching.

// String route rules
var handler = function( req, res, next ) {
    res.send( "My route worked!" );
};
app.get( '/api/:param', handler );
app.get( '/rest/:param', handler );

Regex Rules for Parameters

Express.js provides a way to use a custom regex rule for a specific parameter in a route. Let’s say we wanted a :userId parameter in a route rule to match only a 6 digit integer. The following regex parameter rule does that well.

// Regex rule for route parameter
app.get( '^/users/:userId([0-9]{6})', function( req, res ) {
    res.send( 'Route match for User ID: ' + req.params.userId );
} );

Pure Regex Routing Rules

If you want to use a pure regex for an Express.js route rule then you must use a JS regular expression object instead if string by wrapping your regular expression in slashes (/) instead of quotes (").

// Regex route rule
app.get( /^\/(api|rest)\/.+$/, function( req, res, next ) {
    res.send( "My route worked!" );
} );

Helpful Tools

If you’re writing custom regex routing rules for Express.js then I highly suggest the following useful tools:

• Express Route Tester — A great utility that you can use to test out how Express routes are translated to regex rules
• Regex101 — A great resource for creating, testing, and understanding regular expressions
• Express.js Routing Docs — Be sure to reference these for basics on Express.js routing