Evaluating a string as a mathematical expression in JavaScript

Question

How do I parse and evaluate a mathematical expression in a string (e.g. \'1+1\') without invoking eval(string) to yield its numerical value?

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Answer 1

Somebody has to parse that string. If it's not the interpreter (via eval) then it'll need to be you, writing a parsing routine to extract numbers, operators, and anything else you want to support in a mathematical expression.

So, no, there isn't any (simple) way without eval. If you're concerned about security (because the input you're parsing isn't from a source you control), maybe you can check the input's format (via a whitelist regex filter) before passing it to eval?