Evaluating a string against a pattern with RegExp in Flutter - regex

Question

I'm trying to evaluate a string against a set list of parameters with RegExp in Flutter. For example, the string must contain at least:
One capital letter
One lowercase letter
One number from 0-9
One special character, such as $ or !
This is basically for a password entry field of an application. I have set things up, firstly using validateStructure as follows:
abstract class PasswordValidator {
bool validateStructure(String value);
}
Then, I have used the RegExp function as follows:
class PasswordValidatorSpecial implements PasswordValidator {
bool validateStructure(String value) {
String pattern =
r'^(?=.*?[A-Z])(?=.*?[a-z])(?=.*?[0-9])(?=.*?[!##\$&*~£]).{8,}$';
RegExp regEx = new RegExp(pattern);
return regEx.hasMatch(value);
}
}
This does work well, in a sense that when I pass a string/password through it, it does tell me if at least one of the criteria is not met. However, what I would like to do is for the output to be more specific, telling me which of those criteria isn't met.
For example, if the password were to have everything but a number (from 0-9) I would want to be able to get the output to specifically say that a number is missing, but everything else is present.
How would I adapt my code to be able to do that? I thought perhaps by using conditional 'if' statement, although I don't know how that would work. Thanks!

Answer 1

That's right, you can use RegExr to check your RegExp, separate each part and use them separately to have a custom error. Also instead of return a bool value, you can return a String value, such as the following function:
String validateStructure(String value) {
String patternUpperCaseCharacters = r'^(?=.*?[A-Z])';
String patternLowerCaseCharacters = r'^(?=.*?[a-z])';
String patternNumbers = r'^(?=.*?[0-9])';
String patternSpecialCharacters = r'^(?=.*?[!##\$&*~£])';
RegExp regEx = new RegExp(patternUpperCaseCharacters);
if (regEx.hasMatch(value)) {
regEx = new RegExp(patternLowerCaseCharacters);
if (regEx.hasMatch(value)) {
return "More errors";
} else {
return "You need at least one lowercase letter";
}
} else {
return "You need at least one capital letter";
}
}