Wildcard to RegExp

gistfile1.js

/**
 * Convert wildcard pattern to RegExp
 * Pattern:
 * * - Zero or more characters
 * ? - Exactly one character
 *
 * @param {String} pattern Wildcard pattern
 * @returns {RegExp} regular expression for wildcard matching
 */
function wc2reg(pattern) {
    return RegExp('^' + pattern
        .replace(/[\\$^.+()[\]{}|]/g, '\\$&')
        .replace(/\?/g, '.')
        .replace(/\*[*.]*/g, '(?:.*?)') + '$'
    );
}


//Examples
wc2reg('*'); //^(?:.*?)$
wc2reg('*linux*.html'); //^(?:.*?)linux(?:.*?)\.html$
wc2reg('junk.???'); //^junk\....$
wc2reg(/^\w+@[a-zA-Z_]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,3}$/.source); ///^\^\\w\+@\[a-zA-Z_\]\+\\\.\[a-zA-Z\]\{2,3\}\$$