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Desired Behaviour

I want to be able to validate a single field in a form to check whether it is a valid URL.

By valid URL I mean the following would validate the following formats as well as other TLD's etc:

http://www.somesite.com
http://www.somesite.com/subdir
http://somesite.com
http://somesite.com/subdir
www.somesite.com
www.somesite.com/subdir

The rest of the form validation does not rely on a plugin, so I'd prefer not to use one if possible.

What I've Tried

Standalone Regex

I've tested several of the accepted answers and suggestions regarding validating a URL with jQuery.

For one reason or another they don't seem to work, for example the following which is stated as being the regex from a plugin: 

var myVariable = "http://www.google.com/";
if(/^([a-z]([a-z]|\d|\+|-|\.)*):(\/\/(((([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)*@)?((\[(|(v[\da-f]{1,}\.(([a-z]|\d|-|\.|_|~)|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:)+))\])|((\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])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=])*)(:\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})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)?)|((([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})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)){0})(\?((([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(myVariable)) {
alert("valid url");
} else {
alert("invalid url");
}

Marks as valid: http://

Marks as invalid: www.site.com

Regex From Plugins

I looked for the regex used in popular plugins such as:

jQuery Validation Plugin - https://github.com/jzaefferer/jquery-validation

where the relevant regex in the source seems to be:

/^(https?|s?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})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|\/|\?)*)?$/

To test functionality, I downloaded the master from GitHub and ran demo/index.html and got Firebug console error:

TypeError: $.validator is undefined

I copy and pasted the regex above for use in the first code sample and the following was marked as valid:

http://w.c

and:

h5Validate - https://github.com/dilvie/h5Validate

where the relevant regex in the source is:

/(https?|ftp):\/\/(((([a-zA-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-zA-Z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-zA-Z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-zA-Z]|\d|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.)+(([a-zA-Z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(([a-zA-Z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])*([a-zA-Z]|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])))\.?)(:\d*)?)(\/((([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)+(\/(([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)*)*)?)?(\?((([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|[\uE000-\uF8FF]|\/|\?)*)?(\#((([a-zA-Z]|\d|-|\.|_|~|[\u00A0-\uD7FF\uF900-\uFDCF\uFDF0-\uFFEF])|(%[\da-f]{2})|[!\$&'\(\)\*\+,;=]|:|@)|\/|\?)*)?/

Using this snippet, again in the context of the first code sample, marked the following as valid:

http://w

Don't Do This or Do It Differently

I've seen posts that state that attempts to validate URL's via regex are futile:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/1305082/1063287

And that it could be done server side (eg with Python):

https://stackoverflow.com/a/161749/1063287

Question

So I'm just wondering, as at the time of posting, if there is a definitive solution for using jQuery to validate a URL without a plugin?

Community
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user1063287
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    The answer to the literal question is "no", because jQuery is a DOM manipulation library and doesn't have any features that would help with validating strings. – JJJ Jul 13 '14 at 07:15
  • @Juhana - Not true, jQuery does everything. – adeneo Jul 13 '14 at 07:35
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    The question is, why do you need to validate an URL to such an extent on the clientside at all? Clientside validation is just for giving certain hints to the user, it's not really for security or making sure the URL absolutely positively exists, as it can easily be circumventet. If you have to make sure the URL actually exists, you have to do it serverside by doing a DNS lookup, checking if the URL responds with a page etc. the clientside validation is mainly to alert the user if there is a typo etc. – adeneo Jul 13 '14 at 07:39

1 Answers1

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In short: No, because that's not the purpose of the Jquery library (as @Juhana mentioned).

Also, as @Adeneo wrote, clientside validation is for ui purposes only (i.e. telling the user if it's potentially valid or not). Real validation should be serverside.

That said, I recommend using this regex, which is good for ui purposes.

Etai
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  • For reference, marks `www.somesite.com` as invalid. – user1063287 Jul 14 '14 at 07:08
  • actually, that's because you're missing the protocol. http://www.somesite.com is valid. If you want to make the protocol optional, simply add a ? after ?:(?:https?|ftp):\/\/) or better yet, enclose it with (?: )? and include the port as well. The regular expression is broken down into steps and explained, so it's easy to modify as needed. – Etai Jul 14 '14 at 07:31
  • Accepted this answer as the linked to regex seems to be an authoritative one which is tested against others here - http://mathiasbynens.be/demo/url-regex. – user1063287 Jul 17 '14 at 10:25