javascript - Match every occurences with regex and get their indexes in string -

in construction of interactive form, need parse regex submitted user, find every match captures in each regex , index (where capture group begins) modify original string (let's add <strong> tag around capture example).
@ end want able modify ip:(.+);port:(\d+) ip:<strong>(.+)</strong>;port:<strong>(\d+)</strong> example.

currently have little piece of code:

// called somewhere after user entered every regex wants $('input.regex').each(function () {     pattern = $(this).val(); // non jquery guys: returns content of input     captures = pattern.match(/(\([^\(\)]+\))/g);     for(idx in captures) {         console.log(captures[idx]);     } }); 

this returns me every capturing group found (admit user can't type subgroups... yeah regex can give little headache :-)) when run on examples want moment:

• on ip:(.+);port:(\d+), outputs (.+) , (\d+)
• on ip:(?p<sourceip>[\d\.]);port:(\d{2,5}), outputs (?p<sourceip>[\d\.]) , (\d{2,5})

now wanted index of beginning of each capture. know there's indexof, can have same capture several times. example:

• id1:(\d+);id2:(\d+) outputs (\d+) , (\d+). easy first index second one...

is there possibility structure similar this: [{'match': '(\d+)', 'index': 4}, {'match': '(\d+)', 'index': 14}]? string manipulation want know if there's simplier (and cleaner) way.

i use rexexp.exec() this. operates on rexexp , matches against string, importantly returns array of each match can iterates through this.

var match; //match object. var matches = []; //matches return, array filled match records.  var regex = "..."; //current regex. var string = "..."; //current string.  while((match = regex.exec(string)) !== null){     var matchrecord = {};     matchrecord.match = regex;     matchrecord.index = match.index; //might want increment 1 make human readable?     matches.push(matchrecord); } 

note: more info regexp.exec here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-us/docs/web/javascript/reference/global_objects/regexp/exec