Regex pattern does not tidy up YouTube URLs

Question

I am trying to replace all parts before youtube.com in a URL with nothing, but my regex expression seems to do nothing.

For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8 -> youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8 -> youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8 -> youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8

function setYoutubeUrl(youtubeUrl: string) {
    return youtubeUrl.replace(
      /((\/+|https??:\/\/)?(www\.)?(?=youtube\.com\/.+\/.)|(?<=youtube\.com\/.+\/.)\/*([?#].*)?)/gi,
      ''
    );
}

console.log(setYoutubeUrl("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5iJV2cYCt8"));

Consider using URL and grab the appropriate properties. The only thing you should need to remove is "www." that way. — Heretic Monkey
– Heretic Monkey, Commented Apr 15, 2021 at 12:37

Francesco Lisandro · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-15 12:54:56Z

Try to use the regex /^(?:https?:\/\/)?(?:www\.)?/i. So your function will be like this:

function setYoutubeUrl(youtubeUrl) {
    return youtubeUrl.replace(
      /^(?:https?:\/\/)?(?:www\.)?/i,
      ''
    );
}

Regex Explanation:

^ asserts position at start of the string
Non-capturing group (?:https:\/\/)?
- ? matches the previous token between zero and one times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
- http matches the characters http literally (case insensitive)
  - s matches the character s literally (case insensitive)
  - ? matches the previous token between zero and one times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
- : matches the character : literally (case insensitive)
- \/ matches the character / literally (case insensitive)
- \/ matches the character / literally (case insensitive)
Non-capturing group (?:www\.)?
- ? matches the previous token between zero and one times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
- www matches the characters www literally (case insensitive)
- \. matches the character . literally (case insensitive)
Global pattern flags
- i modifier: insensitive. Case insensitive match (ignores case of [a-zA-Z])

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