freeCodeCamp/curriculum/challenges/english/02-javascript-algorithms-and-data-structures/regular-expressions/match-everything-but-letters-and-numbers.md

---
id: 587d7db8367417b2b2512ba0
title: Match Everything But Letters and Numbers
challengeType: 1
forumTopicId: 301353
dashedName: match-everything-but-letters-and-numbers
---

# --description--

You've learned that you can use a shortcut to match alphanumerics `[A-Za-z0-9_]` using `\w`. A natural pattern you might want to search for is the opposite of alphanumerics.

You can search for the opposite of the `\w` with `\W`. Note, the opposite pattern uses a capital letter. This shortcut is the same as `[^A-Za-z0-9_]`.

```js
let shortHand = /\W/;
let numbers = "42%";
let sentence = "Coding!";
numbers.match(shortHand); // Returns ["%"]
sentence.match(shortHand); // Returns ["!"]
```

# --instructions--

Use the shorthand character class `\W` to count the number of non-alphanumeric characters in various quotes and strings.

# --hints--

Your regex should use the global flag.

```js
assert(nonAlphabetRegex.global);
```

Your regex should find 6 non-alphanumeric characters in `"The five boxing wizards jump quickly."`.

```js
assert(
  'The five boxing wizards jump quickly.'.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 6
);
```

Your regex should use the shorthand character to match characters which are non-alphanumeric.

```js
assert(/\\W/.test(nonAlphabetRegex.source));
```

Your regex should find 8 non-alphanumeric characters in `"Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs."`

```js
assert(
  'Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.'.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 8
);
```

Your regex should find 6 non-alphanumeric characters in `"How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!"`

```js
assert(
  'How vexingly quick daft zebras jump!'.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length == 6
);
```

Your regex should find 12 non-alphanumeric characters in `"123 456 7890 ABC def GHI jkl MNO pqr STU vwx YZ."`

```js
assert(
  '123 456 7890 ABC def GHI jkl MNO pqr STU vwx YZ.'.match(nonAlphabetRegex)
    .length == 12
);
```

# --seed--

## --seed-contents--

```js
let quoteSample = "The five boxing wizards jump quickly.";
let nonAlphabetRegex = /change/; // Change this line
let result = quoteSample.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length;
```

# --solutions--

```js
let quoteSample = "The five boxing wizards_jump quickly.";
let nonAlphabetRegex = /\W/g; // Change this line
let result = quoteSample.match(nonAlphabetRegex).length;
```