JavaScript regular expression for Unicode emoji
In ECMAScript 6 you should be able to detect it in a fairly simple way. I have compiled a simple regex comprising of different Unicode blocks namely:
- Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs
- Supplemental Symbols and Pictographs
- Emoticons
- Transport and Map Symbols
- Miscellaneous Symbols
- Dingbats
- Regional indicator symbol
Regex:
/[\u{1f300}-\u{1f5ff}\u{1f900}-\u{1f9ff}\u{1f600}-\u{1f64f}\u{1f680}-\u{1f6ff}\u{2600}-\u{26ff}\u{2700}-\u{27bf}\u{1f1e6}-\u{1f1ff}\u{1f191}-\u{1f251}\u{1f004}\u{1f0cf}\u{1f170}-\u{1f171}\u{1f17e}-\u{1f17f}\u{1f18e}\u{3030}\u{2b50}\u{2b55}\u{2934}-\u{2935}\u{2b05}-\u{2b07}\u{2b1b}-\u{2b1c}\u{3297}\u{3299}\u{303d}\u{00a9}\u{00ae}\u{2122}\u{23f3}\u{24c2}\u{23e9}-\u{23ef}\u{25b6}\u{23f8}-\u{23fa}]/ug
Playground: play around with emoji and regex
This answer doesn't directly answer the question but gives a fair insight on how to handle emoji using Unicode blocks and ES6.
Note - The below regex will match surrogate pairs (Supplemental), as well as single (Basic).
To see the hex version of what matched:
If the length of the match is 2, character 1 is a low surrogate, character 2 is a high surrogate. Just format each character to hex, and join them in a string.
You could try to match some emoji via hex ranges.
This regex matches these 1,114 emoji characters.
Note - this excludes characters in the range \x00-\x7f; for some reason there are emoji in this range like 0-9.. (using \p{Emoji=yes}).
The below regex will match these emoji.
©®‼⁉™ℹ↔↕↖↗↘↙↩↪⌚⌛⌨⏏⏩⏪⏫⏬⏭⏮⏯⏰⏱⏲⏳⏸⏹⏺Ⓜ▪▫▶◀◻◼◽◾☀☁☂☃☄☎☑☔☕☘☝☠☢☣☦☪☮☯☸
☹☺♀♂♈♉♊♋♌♍♎♏♐♑♒♓♠♣♥♦♨♻♿⚒⚓⚔⚕⚖⚗⚙⚛⚜⚠⚡⚪⚫⚰⚱⚽⚾⛄⛅⛈⛎⛏⛑⛓⛔⛩⛪⛰⛱⛲⛳⛴⛵⛷⛸⛹⛺
⛽✂✅✈✉✊✋✌✍✏✒✔✖✝✡✨✳✴❄❇❌❎❓❔❕❗❣❤➕➖➗➡➰➿⤴⤵⬅⬆⬇⬛⬜⭐⭕〰〽㊗㊙🀄🃏🅰🅱🅾🅿🆎🆑🆒🆓🆔🆕🆖
🆗🆘🆙🆚🇦🇧🇨🇩🇪🇫🇬🇭🇮🇯🇰🇱🇲🇳🇴🇵🇶🇷🇸🇹🇺🇻🇼🇽🇾🇿🈁🈂🈚🈯🈲🈳🈴🈵🈶🈷🈸🈹🈺🉐🉑🌀🌁🌂🌃🌄🌅🌆🌇🌈🌉🌊🌋🌌🌍🌎
🌏🌐🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌙🌚🌛🌜🌝🌞🌟🌠🌡🌤🌥🌦🌧🌨🌩🌪🌫🌬🌭🌮🌯🌰🌱🌲🌳🌴🌵🌶🌷🌸🌹🌺🌻🌼🌽🌾🌿🍀🍁🍂🍃🍄🍅🍆🍇🍈🍉🍊🍋🍌
🍍🍎🍏🍐🍑🍒🍓🍔🍕🍖🍗🍘🍙🍚🍛🍜🍝🍞🍟🍠🍡🍢🍣🍤🍥🍦🍧🍨🍩🍪🍫🍬🍭🍮🍯🍰🍱🍲🍳🍴🍵🍶🍷🍸🍹🍺🍻🍼🍽🍾🍿🎀🎁🎂🎃🎄🎅🎆🎇🎈
🎉🎊🎋🎌🎍🎎🎏🎐🎑🎒🎓🎖🎗🎙🎚🎛🎞🎟🎠🎡🎢🎣🎤🎥🎦🎧🎨🎩🎪🎫🎬🎭🎮🎯🎰🎱🎲🎳🎴🎵🎶🎷🎸🎹🎺🎻🎼🎽🎾🎿🏀🏁🏂🏃🏄🏅🏆🏇🏈🏉
🏊🏋🏌🏍🏎🏏🏐🏑🏒🏓🏔🏕🏖🏗🏘🏙🏚🏛🏜🏝🏞🏟🏠🏡🏢🏣🏤🏥🏦🏧🏨🏩🏪🏫🏬🏭🏮🏯🏰🏳🏴🏵🏷🏸🏹🏺🏻🏼🏽🏾🏿🐀🐁🐂🐃🐄🐅🐆🐇🐈
🐉🐊🐋🐌🐍🐎🐏🐐🐑🐒🐓🐔🐕🐖🐗🐘🐙🐚🐛🐜🐝🐞🐟🐠🐡🐢🐣🐤🐥🐦🐧🐨🐩🐪🐫🐬🐭🐮🐯🐰🐱🐲🐳🐴🐵🐶🐷🐸🐹🐺🐻🐼🐽🐾🐿👀👁👂👃👄
👅👆👇👈👉👊👋👌👍👎👏👐👑👒👓👔👕👖👗👘👙👚👛👜👝👞👟👠👡👢👣👤👥👦👧👨👩👪👫👬👭👮👯👰👱👲👳👴👵👶👷👸👹👺👻👼👽👾👿💀
💁💂💃💄💅💆💇💈💉💊💋💌💍💎💏💐💑💒💓💔💕💖💗💘💙💚💛💜💝💞💟💠💡💢💣💤💥💦💧💨💩💪💫💬💭💮💯💰💱💲💳💴💵💶💷💸💹💺💻💼
💽💾💿📀📁📂📃📄📅📆📇📈📉📊📋📌📍📎📏📐📑📒📓📔📕📖📗📘📙📚📛📜📝📞📟📠📡📢📣📤📥📦📧📨📩📪📫📬📭📮📯📰📱📲📳📴📵📶📷📸
📹📺📻📼📽📿🔀🔁🔂🔃🔄🔅🔆🔇🔈🔉🔊🔋🔌🔍🔎🔏🔐🔑🔒🔓🔔🔕🔖🔗🔘🔙🔚🔛🔜🔝🔞🔟🔠🔡🔢🔣🔤🔥🔦🔧🔨🔩🔪🔫🔬🔭🔮🔯🔰🔱🔲🔳🔴🔵
🔶🔷🔸🔹🔺🔻🔼🔽🕉🕊🕋🕌🕍🕎🕐🕑🕒🕓🕔🕕🕖🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛🕜🕝🕞🕟🕠🕡🕢🕣🕤🕥🕦🕧🕯🕰🕳🕴🕵🕶🕷🕸🕹🕺🖇🖊🖋🖌🖍🖐🖕🖖🖤🖥🖨🖱
🖲🖼🗂🗃🗄🗑🗒🗓🗜🗝🗞🗡🗣🗨🗯🗳🗺🗻🗼🗽🗾🗿😀😁😂😃😄😅😆😇😈😉😊😋😌😍😎😏😐😑😒😓😔😕😖😗😘😙😚😛😜😝😞😟😠😡😢😣😤😥
😦😧😨😩😪😫😬😭😮😯😰😱😲😳😴😵😶😷😸😹😺😻😼😽😾😿🙀🙁🙂🙃🙄🙅🙆🙇🙈🙉🙊🙋🙌🙍🙎🙏🚀🚁🚂🚃🚄🚅🚆🚇🚈🚉🚊🚋🚌🚍🚎🚏🚐🚑
🚒🚓🚔🚕🚖🚗🚘🚙🚚🚛🚜🚝🚞🚟🚠🚡🚢🚣🚤🚥🚦🚧🚨🚩🚪🚫🚬🚭🚮🚯🚰🚱🚲🚳🚴🚵🚶🚷🚸🚹🚺🚻🚼🚽🚾🚿🛀🛁🛂🛃🛄🛅🛋🛌🛍🛎🛏🛐🛑🛒
🛠🛡🛢🛣🛤🛥🛩🛫🛬🛰🛳🛴🛵🛶🤐🤑🤒🤓🤔🤕🤖🤗🤘🤙🤚🤛🤜🤝🤞🤠🤡🤢🤣🤤🤥🤦🤧🤰🤳🤴🤵🤶🤷🤸🤹🤺🤼🤽🤾🥀🥁🥂🥃🥄🥅🥇🥈🥉🥊🥋
🥐🥑🥒🥓🥔🥕🥖🥗🥘🥙🥚🥛🥜🥝🥞🦀🦁🦂🦃🦄🦅🦆🦇🦈🦉🦊🦋🦌🦍🦎🦏🦐🦑🧀
Regex
(?:[\u00A9\u00AE\u203C\u2049\u2122\u2139\u2194-\u2199\u21A9-\u21AA\u231A-\u231B\u2328\u23CF\u23E9-\u23F3\u23F8-\u23FA\u24C2\u25AA-\u25AB\u25B6\u25C0\u25FB-\u25FE\u2600-\u2604\u260E\u2611\u2614-\u2615\u2618\u261D\u2620\u2622-\u2623\u2626\u262A\u262E-\u262F\u2638-\u263A\u2640\u2642\u2648-\u2653\u2660\u2663\u2665-\u2666\u2668\u267B\u267F\u2692-\u2697\u2699\u269B-\u269C\u26A0-\u26A1\u26AA-\u26AB\u26B0-\u26B1\u26BD-\u26BE\u26C4-\u26C5\u26C8\u26CE-\u26CF\u26D1\u26D3-\u26D4\u26E9-\u26EA\u26F0-\u26F5\u26F7-\u26FA\u26FD\u2702\u2705\u2708-\u270D\u270F\u2712\u2714\u2716\u271D\u2721\u2728\u2733-\u2734\u2744\u2747\u274C\u274E\u2753-\u2755\u2757\u2763-\u2764\u2795-\u2797\u27A1\u27B0\u27BF\u2934-\u2935\u2B05-\u2B07\u2B1B-\u2B1C\u2B50\u2B55\u3030\u303D\u3297\u3299]|(?:\uD83C[\uDC04\uDCCF\uDD70-\uDD71\uDD7E-\uDD7F\uDD8E\uDD91-\uDD9A\uDDE6-\uDDFF\uDE01-\uDE02\uDE1A\uDE2F\uDE32-\uDE3A\uDE50-\uDE51\uDF00-\uDF21\uDF24-\uDF93\uDF96-\uDF97\uDF99-\uDF9B\uDF9E-\uDFF0\uDFF3-\uDFF5\uDFF7-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDCFD\uDCFF-\uDD3D\uDD49-\uDD4E\uDD50-\uDD67\uDD6F-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD7A\uDD87\uDD8A-\uDD8D\uDD90\uDD95-\uDD96\uDDA4-\uDDA5\uDDA8\uDDB1-\uDDB2\uDDBC\uDDC2-\uDDC4\uDDD1-\uDDD3\uDDDC-\uDDDE\uDDE1\uDDE3\uDDE8\uDDEF\uDDF3\uDDFA-\uDE4F\uDE80-\uDEC5\uDECB-\uDED2\uDEE0-\uDEE5\uDEE9\uDEEB-\uDEEC\uDEF0\uDEF3-\uDEF6]|\uD83E[\uDD10-\uDD1E\uDD20-\uDD27\uDD30\uDD33-\uDD3A\uDD3C-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD45\uDD47-\uDD4B\uDD50-\uDD5E\uDD80-\uDD91\uDDC0]))
Expanded
(?:
[\u00A9\u00AE\u203C\u2049\u2122\u2139\u2194-\u2199\u21A9-\u21AA\u231A-\u231B\u2328\u23CF\u23E9-\u23F3\u23F8-\u23FA\u24C2\u25AA-\u25AB\u25B6\u25C0\u25FB-\u25FE\u2600-\u2604\u260E\u2611\u2614-\u2615\u2618\u261D\u2620\u2622-\u2623\u2626\u262A\u262E-\u262F\u2638-\u263A\u2640\u2642\u2648-\u2653\u2660\u2663\u2665-\u2666\u2668\u267B\u267F\u2692-\u2697\u2699\u269B-\u269C\u26A0-\u26A1\u26AA-\u26AB\u26B0-\u26B1\u26BD-\u26BE\u26C4-\u26C5\u26C8\u26CE-\u26CF\u26D1\u26D3-\u26D4\u26E9-\u26EA\u26F0-\u26F5\u26F7-\u26FA\u26FD\u2702\u2705\u2708-\u270D\u270F\u2712\u2714\u2716\u271D\u2721\u2728\u2733-\u2734\u2744\u2747\u274C\u274E\u2753-\u2755\u2757\u2763-\u2764\u2795-\u2797\u27A1\u27B0\u27BF\u2934-\u2935\u2B05-\u2B07\u2B1B-\u2B1C\u2B50\u2B55\u3030\u303D\u3297\u3299]
|
(?:
\uD83C [\uDC04\uDCCF\uDD70-\uDD71\uDD7E-\uDD7F\uDD8E\uDD91-\uDD9A\uDDE6-\uDDFF\uDE01-\uDE02\uDE1A\uDE2F\uDE32-\uDE3A\uDE50-\uDE51\uDF00-\uDF21\uDF24-\uDF93\uDF96-\uDF97\uDF99-\uDF9B\uDF9E-\uDFF0\uDFF3-\uDFF5\uDFF7-\uDFFF]
| \uD83D [\uDC00-\uDCFD\uDCFF-\uDD3D\uDD49-\uDD4E\uDD50-\uDD67\uDD6F-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD7A\uDD87\uDD8A-\uDD8D\uDD90\uDD95-\uDD96\uDDA4-\uDDA5\uDDA8\uDDB1-\uDDB2\uDDBC\uDDC2-\uDDC4\uDDD1-\uDDD3\uDDDC-\uDDDE\uDDE1\uDDE3\uDDE8\uDDEF\uDDF3\uDDFA-\uDE4F\uDE80-\uDEC5\uDECB-\uDED2\uDEE0-\uDEE5\uDEE9\uDEEB-\uDEEC\uDEF0\uDEF3-\uDEF6]
| \uD83E [\uDD10-\uDD1E\uDD20-\uDD27\uDD30\uDD33-\uDD3A\uDD3C-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD45\uDD47-\uDD4B\uDD50-\uDD5E\uDD80-\uDD91\uDDC0]
)
)
I think you could also use Unicode character properties. Even Unicode Consortium themselves provide a regex, which can be adjusted for ECMAScript relatively easily (by replacing all occurrences of \x with \u and putting it all in one line). It does select possible Emoji though, meaning it will yield false positives. It's explicitly advised to still validate all matches before assuming they are in fact emoji.
Here's a somewhat stricter version of that regex which will return less false positives, with a mini demo:
const sentence = 'A ticket to 大阪 costs ¥2000 👌. Repeated emojis: 😁😁. Crying cat: 😿. Repeated emoji with skin tones: ✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿✊✊✊🏿. Flags: 🇱🇹🏴. Scales ⚖️⚖️⚖️.';
const regexpUnicodeModified = /\p{RI}\p{RI}|\p{Emoji}(\p{EMod}+|\u{FE0F}\u{20E3}?|[\u{E0020}-\u{E007E}]+\u{E007F})?(\u{200D}\p{Emoji}(\p{EMod}+|\u{FE0F}\u{20E3}?|[\u{E0020}-\u{E007E}]+\u{E007F})?)+|\p{EPres}(\p{EMod}+|\u{FE0F}\u{20E3}?|[\u{E0020}-\u{E007E}]+\u{E007F})?|\p{Emoji}(\p{EMod}+|\u{FE0F}\u{20E3}?|[\u{E0020}-\u{E007E}]+\u{E007F})/gu
console.log(sentence.match(regexpUnicodeModified));
This will log the following:
> Array ["👌", "😁", "😁", "😿", "✊🏿", "✊🏿", "✊🏿", "✊", "✊", "✊🏿", "🇱🇹", "🏴", "⚖️", "⚖️", "⚖️"]
which means it matches:
- simple emoji
- emoji with modifiers (skin tones)
- country flags
- region flags
- emoji presentation sequences
Note that I don't see how this could be used for replacing specific emoji with images, as the OP wanted, but it does make it possible to place the emoji inside extra tags and such.
You can change to \U characters with below function.
var emojiToUnicode=function (message){
var emojiRegexp = /([\uE000-\uF8FF]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDFFF]|[\u2694-\u2697]|\uD83E[\uDD10-\uDD5D])/g;
if(!message)
return;
try{
var newMessage = message.match(emojiRegexp);
for(var emoj in newMessage){
var emojmessage = newMessage[emoj];
var index = message.indexOf(emojmessage);
if(index === -1)
continue;
emojmessage = "\\u" + emojmessage.charCodeAt(0).toString(16) + "\\u" + emojmessage.charCodeAt(1).toString(16);
message = message.substr(0, index) + emojmessage + message.substr(index + 2);
}
return message;
}catch(err){
console.error("error in emojiToUnicode"+err.stack);
}
};