Regular Expression for formatting numbers in JavaScript

Question

I need to display a formatted number on a web page using JavaScript. I want to format it so that there are commas in the right places. How would I do this with a regular exp

Answer 1

Brandon,

I didn't see too many answers working the regex from the decimal point back, so I thought I might chime in.

I wondered if there is any elegant benefit to re-writing the regexp to scan from the back forward...

function addCommas(inputText) {
    // pattern works from right to left
    var commaPattern = /(\d+)(\d{3})(\.\d*)*$/;
    var callback = function (match, p1, p2, p3) {
        return p1.replace(commaPattern, callback) + ',' + p2 + (p3 || '');
    };
    return inputText.replace(commaPattern, callback);
}

>> Fiddle Demo <<

This accounts for any decimal place.