@adguard/re2-wasm

Google's RE2 library distributed as a WASM module patched by AdGuard.

Note: This package is developed in AdGuardSoftwareLimited/ext-re2-wasm. The AdguardTeam/re2-wasm repository is a public mirror.

Description

@adguard/re2-wasm is a fork of Google's re2-wasm that adds a configurable maximum memory limit for regular expressions. It compiles Google's RE2 C++ library to WASM via Emscripten and exposes it as a drop-in replacement for JavaScript's RegExp.

This library is for JavaScript and TypeScript developers who need to handle user-supplied regular expressions safely. The built-in RegExp engine can run in exponential time with a vulnerable regular expression and "evil input", leading to Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS). RE2 guarantees linear-time matching, protecting your application from ReDoS attacks. The AdGuard fork adds bounded memory usage via the maxMem option — the engine throws an error if a match attempt exceeds the configured memory limit, preventing runaway resource consumption.

RE2's regular expression language is almost a superset of what is provided by RegExp (see Syntax), but it lacks two features: backreferences and lookahead assertions. See Differences from RegExp for details.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Quick Start
• API Overview
• Usage Examples
• Differences from RegExp
• Documentation

Installation

npm install @adguard/re2-wasm

Requires Node.js ≥ 10 or a browser with WASM support. The package has zero runtime dependencies — all functionality comes from the compiled WASM module.

Quick Start

const { RE2 } = require('@adguard/re2-wasm');

const re = new RE2('hello (\\w+)', 'u');
const result = re.exec('hello world');
// result[0]: 'hello world'
// result[1]: 'world'
// result.index: 0
console.log(result[0]); // 'hello world'

Or with ES modules:

import { RE2 } from '@adguard/re2-wasm';

const re = new RE2('\\d+', 'gu');
'abc 123 def 456'.match(re); // ['123', '456']

API Overview

The RE2 class emulates the standard RegExp interface. It can be used as a drop-in replacement in most cases.

Constructor

new RE2(pattern: string | RegExp | RE2, flags?: string, maxMem?: number)

Properties

Methods

The RE2 class also supports well-known symbols, so String methods work directly:

const re = new RE2('\\d+', 'u');
'abc 123'.match(re);        // ['123', index: 4, input: 'abc 123']
'abc 123'.search(re);       // 4
'abc 123'.replace(re, 'X'); // 'abc X'
'abc 123'.split(re);        // ['abc ', '']

Usage Examples

Constructing from a RegExp object

const orig = /\w+/gu;
const re = new RE2(orig);
// Flags and pattern are copied from the original
console.log(re.flags); // 'gu'

Using the maxMem option to bound memory

// Limit the regex engine to 4 KB of memory
const re = new RE2('a*b*c*d*e*f*g*h*i*j*k*l*m*n*o*p*q*r*s*t*u*v*w*x*y*z*', 'u', 4096);
try {
  re.exec('aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa');
} catch (e) {
  console.log('Pattern exceeded memory limit');
}

Named capture groups

const re = new RE2('(?P<word>\\w+) (?P<number>\\d+)', 'u');
const result = re.exec('hello 42');
console.log(result.groups.word);   // 'hello'
console.log(result.groups.number); // '42'

Using Symbol.matchAll

const re = new RE2('\\w+', 'gu');
for (const match of 'one two three'.matchAll(re)) {
  console.log(match[0]);
}
// 'one'
// 'two'
// 'three'

Replacing with a function

const re = new RE2('(\\d+)', 'gu');
const result = re.replace('a 10 b 20 c 30', (match, n) => String(Number(n) * 2));
console.log(result); // 'a 20 b 40 c 60'

Falling back to RegExp for unsupported patterns

const pattern = /(a)+(b)*\\1/u;
let re;
try {
  re = new RE2(pattern);
} catch (e) {
  // Pattern uses backreferences — fall back to RegExp
  re = pattern;
}
const result = re.exec('aabbaabb');

Differences from RegExp

Backreferences and lookahead assertions not supported

RE2 does not support backreferences (\\1, \\2, etc.) or lookahead/lookbehind assertions ((?=...), (?<=...), (?!...), (?<!...)). Attempting to use these features throws a SyntaxError. If your patterns require them, fall back to RegExp (see the fallback example above).

Unicode flag is mandatory

The RE2 engine always works in Unicode mode. The u flag must be passed when constructing an RE2 instance:

new RE2('\\w+');           // throws Error: "u" flag must be passed
new RE2('\\w+', 'u');      // OK

Memory limit

The maxMem constructor parameter (an AdGuard extension) restricts how much memory the regex engine can allocate during matching. If the limit is exceeded, the engine throws an error. Pass 0 (the default) for no limit.

Dot behavior

In RE2, . matches any character including \\n, regardless of whether the m or s flags are set. This is equivalent to RegExp's s (dotAll) flag always being on:

const re = new RE2('a.b', 'u');
console.log(re.exec('a\\nb')); // ['a\\nb']
console.log(/a.b/u.exec('a\\nb')); // null

Anchors in multiline mode

In multiline mode, $ in RE2 does not match between \\r and \\n when the string ends with \\r\\n:

const re = new RE2('a$', 'mu');
re.exec('a\\r\\n'); // null — RE2 does not match between \\r and \\n
/a$/mu.exec('a\\r\\n'); // ['a'] — RegExp matches between \\r and \\n

compile() method

RegExp.prototype.compile() is deprecated and not implemented in RE2. Calling it throws an error. Create a new RE2 instance instead.

d flag (hasIndices)

The hasIndices (d) flag is not supported. Use RegExp with the d flag if you need start and end indices of capture groups.

Documentation

• Development — how to set up and contribute
• Changelog — version history
• LLM agent rules — AI-assisted development guidelines