I have a stopwatch variable that can get value in the following format: HH:MM:SS most of the time. 'HH' can go past 24 hours - basically any valid number.

I am not that good with this regex thingy, but was able to write something that is good for most part but fails to validate if the hour is single digit. Ex. below regex pass the time 1:10:09, though it is invalid. valid hour part should be 01.

//var stopWatchTime = '02:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = '00:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = '1234:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = ':10:09'; //Invalid
//var stopWatchTime = 'ax:10:09'; //Invalid
var stopWatchTime = '1:10:09'; //Invalid, should be 01:10:09. 

if(!stopWatchTime .match(/^\d+:\d{2}:\d{2}$/)){
    alert('invalid time- ' + stopWatchTime);
}
else{
    alert('valid time - ' + stopWatchTime);
}

What should I change in the regex to say it should check for any number but should have 2 digits or more in hour part?

I have a stopwatch variable that can get value in the following format: HH:MM:SS most of the time. 'HH' can go past 24 hours - basically any valid number.

I am not that good with this regex thingy, but was able to write something that is good for most part but fails to validate if the hour is single digit. Ex. below regex pass the time 1:10:09, though it is invalid. valid hour part should be 01.

//var stopWatchTime = '02:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = '00:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = '1234:10:09'; //Valid
//var stopWatchTime = ':10:09'; //Invalid
//var stopWatchTime = 'ax:10:09'; //Invalid
var stopWatchTime = '1:10:09'; //Invalid, should be 01:10:09. 

if(!stopWatchTime .match(/^\d+:\d{2}:\d{2}$/)){
    alert('invalid time- ' + stopWatchTime);
}
else{
    alert('valid time - ' + stopWatchTime);
}

What should I change in the regex to say it should check for any number but should have 2 digits or more in hour part?

• javascript
• jquery
• regex
• time

• /^\d+:\d{2}:\d{2}$/ Should be /^\d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2}$/ – Nemanja Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 18:23
• @Nemanja, that was my original regex but it didn't account for more than 2 digits in hour part. – Sri Reddy Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 18:37
• @Ohgodwhy, I was not able to make this work for hours more than 2 digits. – Sri Reddy Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 18:38

5 Answers 5

/^\d{2,}:\d{2}:\d{2}$/

Change the + to a {2,} to allow it to have two or more characters

If you want to see the things that matches and doesn't match you can play with it here http://regexr.com?31fu4

EDIT: Also if you only want to match up to 59 in the hours/minutes part use

^\d{2,}:(?:[0-5]\d):(?:[0-5]\d)$

http://gskinner.com/RegExr/?31fug ^\d{2,}(:[0-5]\d){2}$

// use this function to  validate time in HH:mm formate

function validate_time(time){
    var a=true;

    var time_arr=time.split(":");
    if(time_arr.length!=2){           
        a=false;
    }else{
        if(isNaN(time_arr[0]) || isNaN(time_arr[1])){                
            a=false;
        }
        if(time_arr[0]<24 && time_arr[1]<60)
        {

        } else{
            a=false;
        }         
    }
    return a;

}

Another solution could be:

 $('#input-horaIni, #input-horaFin').blur(function () {
        var validTime = $(this).val().match(/^([01]?[0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$/);
        if (!validTime) {
            $(this).val('').focus().css('background', '#fdd');
        } else {
            $(this).css('background', 'transparent');
        }
    });

This works for me... Based on page: http://www.mkyong.com/regular-expressions

Here is my answer for this validation!

function checkTimes(val){
val=new String(val);
if(val.length!=5){
    return false;
}
else{
    var hour=val.substring(0,2);
    var min=val.substring(3,5);
   if(val.substring(2,3)!==":") return false;
    if(isNaN(hour)) return false;
    if(isNaN(min)) return false;
    if(parseInt(hour)<24){
        if(parseInt(min)<60){
            return true;
        }
        else return false;

    }else return false;
}
}

You can extend my answer for 8chars...