Check for special characters in string

I want to check if a string contains special characters like !@#$%^&*.,<>/'";:? and return true if the string contains atleast one of those chars.

I tried with the following regex,script:

var format = /^[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]*$/;

if( string.match(format) ){
  return true;
}else{
  return false;
}

If the string contains only the special characters then it returns true , but if the string contains something else like alphanumeric chars ( !example1 , .example2 ) it returns false.

I suggest using RegExp .test() function to check for a pattern match, and the only thing you need to change is remove the start/end of line anchors (and the * quantifier is also redundant) in the regex:

var format = /[ `!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?~]/;
//            ^                                       ^   
document.write(format.test("My@string-with(some%text)") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My string with spaces") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("MyStringContainingNoSpecialChars"));

The anchors (like ^ start of string/line, $ end od string/line and \b word boundaries) can restrict matches at specific places in a string. When using ^ the regex engine checks if the next subpattern appears right at the start of the string (or line if /m modifier is declared in the regex). Same case with $: the preceding subpattern should match right at the end of the string.

In your case, you want to check the existence of the special character from the set anywhere in the string. Even if it is only one, you want to return false. Thus, you should remove the anchors, and the quantifier *. The * quantifier would match even an empty string, thus we must remove it in order to actually check for the presence of at least 1 special character (actually, without any quantifiers we check for exactly one occurrence, same as if we were using {1} limiting quantifier).

More specific solutions

What characters are "special" for you?

• All chars other than ASCII chars: /[^\x00-\x7F]/ (demo)
• All chars other than printable ASCII chars: /[^ -~]/ (demo)
• Any printable ASCII chars other than space, letters and digits: /[!-\/:-@[-`{-~]/ (demo)
• Any Unicode punctuation proper chars, the \p{P} Unicode property class:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{P}/u
  • ES6+:

/[!-#%-*,-/:;?@[-]_{}\u00A1\u00A7\u00AB\u00B6\u00B7\u00BB\u00BF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173E}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3B}\u{16B44}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9F}\u{1DA87}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[!-#%-*,-/:;?@[-]_{}\xA1\xA7\xAB\xB6\xB7\xBB\xBF\u037E\u0387\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0609\u060A\u060C\u060D\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u0700-\u070D\u07F7-\u07F9\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0C84\u0DF4\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F04-\u0F12\u0F14\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FD0-\u0FD4\u0FD9\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DA\u1800-\u180A\u1944\u1945\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B60\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u2043\u2045-\u2051\u2053-\u205E\u207D\u207E\u208D\u208E\u2308-\u230B\u2329\u232A\u2768-\u2775\u27C5\u27C6\u27E6-\u27EF\u2983-\u2998\u29D8-\u29DB\u29FC\u29FD\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u3001-\u3003\u3008-\u3011\u3014-\u301F\u3030\u303D\u30A0\u30FB\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uABEB\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE61\uFE63\uFE68\uFE6A\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF03\uFF05-\uFF0A\uFF0C-\uFF0F\uFF1A\uFF1B\uFF1F\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF3D\uFF3F\uFF5B\uFF5D\uFF5F-\uFF65]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3E]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3B\uDF44]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F\uDC9F|\uD836[\uDE87-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F])/

• All Unicode symbols (not punctuation proper), \p{S}:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /\p{S}/u
  • ES6+:

    /[$+<->^`|~\u00A2-\u00A6\u00A8\u00A9\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B8\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{10AC8}\u{1173F}\u{16B3C}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B45}\u{1BC9C}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}\u{1DA86}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u

         ● ES5 (demo):

/(?:[$+<->^`|~\xA2-\xA6\xA8\xA9\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB8\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u0384\u0385\u03F6\u0482\u058D-\u058F\u0606-\u0608\u060B\u060E\u060F\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u07F6\u07FE\u07FF\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0D4F\u0D79\u0E3F\u0F01-\u0F03\u0F13\u0F15-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE\u0FCF\u0FD5-\u0FD8\u109E\u109F\u1390-\u1399\u17DB\u1940\u19DE-\u19FF\u1B61-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2044\u2052\u207A-\u207C\u208A-\u208C\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2307\u230C-\u2328\u232B-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2767\u2794-\u27C4\u27C7-\u27E5\u27F0-\u2982\u2999-\u29D7\u29DC-\u29FB\u29FE-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3004\u3012\u3013\u3020\u3036\u3037\u303E\u303F\u309B\u309C\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uAA77-\uAA79\uAB5B\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE62\uFE64-\uFE66\uFE69\uFF04\uFF0B\uFF1C-\uFF1E\uFF3E\uFF40\uFF5C\uFF5E\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC]|\uD802[\uDC77\uDC78\uDEC8]|\uD805\uDF3F|\uD81A[\uDF3C-\uDF3F\uDF45]|\uD82F\uDC9C|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85\uDE86]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/

• All Unicode punctuation and symbols, \p{P} and \p{S}:
  • ECMAScript 2018: /[\p{P}\p{S}]/u
  • ES6+:

    /[!-/:-@[-/[!-/:-@[-{-~\u00A1-\u00A9\u00AB\u00AC\u00AE-\u00B1\u00B4\u00B6-\u00B8\u00BB\u00BF\u00D7\u00F7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD\u{10100}-\u{10102}\u{10137}-\u{1013F}\u{10179}-\u{10189}\u{1018C}-\u{1018E}\u{10190}-\u{1019B}\u{101A0}\u{101D0}-\u{101FC}\u{1039F}\u{103D0}\u{1056F}\u{10857}\u{10877}\u{10878}\u{1091F}\u{1093F}\u{10A50}-\u{10A58}\u{10A7F}\u{10AC8}\u{10AF0}-\u{10AF6}\u{10B39}-\u{10B3F}\u{10B99}-\u{10B9C}\u{10F55}-\u{10F59}\u{11047}-\u{1104D}\u{110BB}\u{110BC}\u{110BE}-\u{110C1}\u{11140}-\u{11143}\u{11174}\u{11175}\u{111C5}-\u{111C8}\u{111CD}\u{111DB}\u{111DD}-\u{111DF}\u{11238}-\u{1123D}\u{112A9}\u{1144B}-\u{1144F}\u{1145B}\u{1145D}\u{114C6}\u{115C1}-\u{115D7}\u{11641}-\u{11643}\u{11660}-\u{1166C}\u{1173C}-\u{1173F}\u{1183B}\u{11A3F}-\u{11A46}\u{11A9A}-\u{11A9C}\u{11A9E}-\u{11AA2}\u{11C41}-\u{11C45}\u{11C70}\u{11C71}\u{11EF7}\u{11EF8}\u{12470}-\u{12474}\u{16A6E}\u{16A6F}\u{16AF5}\u{16B37}-\u{16B3F}\u{16B44}\u{16B45}\u{16E97}-\u{16E9A}\u{1BC9C}\u{1BC9F}\u{1D000}-\u{1D0F5}\u{1D100}-\u{1D126}\u{1D129}-\u{1D164}\u{1D16A}-\u{1D16C}\u{1D183}\u{1D184}\u{1D18C}-\u{1D1A9}\u{1D1AE}-\u{1D1E8}\u{1D200}-\u{1D241}\u{1D245}\u{1D300}-\u{1D356}\u{1D6C1}\u{1D6DB}\u{1D6FB}\u{1D715}\u{1D735}\u{1D74F}\u{1D76F}\u{1D789}\u{1D7A9}\u{1D7C3}\u{1D800}-\u{1D9FF}\u{1DA37}-\u{1DA3A}\u{1DA6D}-\u{1DA74}\u{1DA76}-\u{1DA83}\u{1DA85}-\u{1DA8B}\u{1E95E}\u{1E95F}\u{1ECAC}\u{1ECB0}\u{1EEF0}\u{1EEF1}\u{1F000}-\u{1F02B}\u{1F030}-\u{1F093}\u{1F0A0}-\u{1F0AE}\u{1F0B1}-\u{1F0BF}\u{1F0C1}-\u{1F0CF}\u{1F0D1}-\u{1F0F5}\u{1F110}-\u{1F16B}\u{1F170}-\u{1F1AC}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F202}\u{1F210}-\u{1F23B}\u{1F240}-\u{1F248}\u{1F250}\u{1F251}\u{1F260}-\u{1F265}\u{1F300}-\u{1F6D4}\u{1F6E0}-\u{1F6EC}\u{1F6F0}-\u{1F6F9}\u{1F700}-\u{1F773}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7D8}\u{1F800}-\u{1F80B}\u{1F810}-\u{1F847}\u{1F850}-\u{1F859}\u{1F860}-\u{1F887}\u{1F890}-\u{1F8AD}\u{1F900}-\u{1F90B}\u{1F910}-\u{1F93E}\u{1F940}-\u{1F970}\u{1F973}-\u{1F976}\u{1F97A}\u{1F97C}-\u{1F9A2}\u{1F9B0}-\u{1F9B9}\u{1F9C0}-\u{1F9C2}\u{1F9D0}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA60}-\u{1FA6D}]/u</pre> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;● ES5 ([demo](https://regex101.com/r/oyp9Fk/3)): <pre>/(?:[!-\/:-@\[-{-~\xA1-\xA9\xAB\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB6-\xB8\xBB\xBF\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDC77\uDC78\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEC8\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3F]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3F\uDF44\uDF45]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F[\uDC9C\uDC9F]|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/{-~\xA1-\xA9\xAB\xAC\xAE-\xB1\xB4\xB6-\xB8\xBB\xBF\xD7\xF7\u02C2-\u02C5\u02D2-\u02DF\u02E5-\u02EB\u02ED\u02EF-\u02FF\u0375\u037E\u0384\u0385\u0387\u03F6\u0482\u055A-\u055F\u0589\u058A\u058D-\u058F\u05BE\u05C0\u05C3\u05C6\u05F3\u05F4\u0606-\u060F\u061B\u061E\u061F\u066A-\u066D\u06D4\u06DE\u06E9\u06FD\u06FE\u0700-\u070D\u07F6-\u07F9\u07FE\u07FF\u0830-\u083E\u085E\u0964\u0965\u0970\u09F2\u09F3\u09FA\u09FB\u09FD\u0A76\u0AF0\u0AF1\u0B70\u0BF3-\u0BFA\u0C7F\u0C84\u0D4F\u0D79\u0DF4\u0E3F\u0E4F\u0E5A\u0E5B\u0F01-\u0F17\u0F1A-\u0F1F\u0F34\u0F36\u0F38\u0F3A-\u0F3D\u0F85\u0FBE-\u0FC5\u0FC7-\u0FCC\u0FCE-\u0FDA\u104A-\u104F\u109E\u109F\u10FB\u1360-\u1368\u1390-\u1399\u1400\u166D\u166E\u169B\u169C\u16EB-\u16ED\u1735\u1736\u17D4-\u17D6\u17D8-\u17DB\u1800-\u180A\u1940\u1944\u1945\u19DE-\u19FF\u1A1E\u1A1F\u1AA0-\u1AA6\u1AA8-\u1AAD\u1B5A-\u1B6A\u1B74-\u1B7C\u1BFC-\u1BFF\u1C3B-\u1C3F\u1C7E\u1C7F\u1CC0-\u1CC7\u1CD3\u1FBD\u1FBF-\u1FC1\u1FCD-\u1FCF\u1FDD-\u1FDF\u1FED-\u1FEF\u1FFD\u1FFE\u2010-\u2027\u2030-\u205E\u207A-\u207E\u208A-\u208E\u20A0-\u20BF\u2100\u2101\u2103-\u2106\u2108\u2109\u2114\u2116-\u2118\u211E-\u2123\u2125\u2127\u2129\u212E\u213A\u213B\u2140-\u2144\u214A-\u214D\u214F\u218A\u218B\u2190-\u2426\u2440-\u244A\u249C-\u24E9\u2500-\u2775\u2794-\u2B73\u2B76-\u2B95\u2B98-\u2BC8\u2BCA-\u2BFE\u2CE5-\u2CEA\u2CF9-\u2CFC\u2CFE\u2CFF\u2D70\u2E00-\u2E2E\u2E30-\u2E4E\u2E80-\u2E99\u2E9B-\u2EF3\u2F00-\u2FD5\u2FF0-\u2FFB\u3001-\u3004\u3008-\u3020\u3030\u3036\u3037\u303D-\u303F\u309B\u309C\u30A0\u30FB\u3190\u3191\u3196-\u319F\u31C0-\u31E3\u3200-\u321E\u322A-\u3247\u3250\u3260-\u327F\u328A-\u32B0\u32C0-\u32FE\u3300-\u33FF\u4DC0-\u4DFF\uA490-\uA4C6\uA4FE\uA4FF\uA60D-\uA60F\uA673\uA67E\uA6F2-\uA6F7\uA700-\uA716\uA720\uA721\uA789\uA78A\uA828-\uA82B\uA836-\uA839\uA874-\uA877\uA8CE\uA8CF\uA8F8-\uA8FA\uA8FC\uA92E\uA92F\uA95F\uA9C1-\uA9CD\uA9DE\uA9DF\uAA5C-\uAA5F\uAA77-\uAA79\uAADE\uAADF\uAAF0\uAAF1\uAB5B\uABEB\uFB29\uFBB2-\uFBC1\uFD3E\uFD3F\uFDFC\uFDFD\uFE10-\uFE19\uFE30-\uFE52\uFE54-\uFE66\uFE68-\uFE6B\uFF01-\uFF0F\uFF1A-\uFF20\uFF3B-\uFF40\uFF5B-\uFF65\uFFE0-\uFFE6\uFFE8-\uFFEE\uFFFC\uFFFD]|\uD800[\uDD00-\uDD02\uDD37-\uDD3F\uDD79-\uDD89\uDD8C-\uDD8E\uDD90-\uDD9B\uDDA0\uDDD0-\uDDFC\uDF9F\uDFD0]|\uD801\uDD6F|\uD802[\uDC57\uDC77\uDC78\uDD1F\uDD3F\uDE50-\uDE58\uDE7F\uDEC8\uDEF0-\uDEF6\uDF39-\uDF3F\uDF99-\uDF9C]|\uD803[\uDF55-\uDF59]|\uD804[\uDC47-\uDC4D\uDCBB\uDCBC\uDCBE-\uDCC1\uDD40-\uDD43\uDD74\uDD75\uDDC5-\uDDC8\uDDCD\uDDDB\uDDDD-\uDDDF\uDE38-\uDE3D\uDEA9]|\uD805[\uDC4B-\uDC4F\uDC5B\uDC5D\uDCC6\uDDC1-\uDDD7\uDE41-\uDE43\uDE60-\uDE6C\uDF3C-\uDF3F]|\uD806[\uDC3B\uDE3F-\uDE46\uDE9A-\uDE9C\uDE9E-\uDEA2]|\uD807[\uDC41-\uDC45\uDC70\uDC71\uDEF7\uDEF8]|\uD809[\uDC70-\uDC74]|\uD81A[\uDE6E\uDE6F\uDEF5\uDF37-\uDF3F\uDF44\uDF45]|\uD81B[\uDE97-\uDE9A]|\uD82F[\uDC9C\uDC9F]|\uD834[\uDC00-\uDCF5\uDD00-\uDD26\uDD29-\uDD64\uDD6A-\uDD6C\uDD83\uDD84\uDD8C-\uDDA9\uDDAE-\uDDE8\uDE00-\uDE41\uDE45\uDF00-\uDF56]|\uD835[\uDEC1\uDEDB\uDEFB\uDF15\uDF35\uDF4F\uDF6F\uDF89\uDFA9\uDFC3]|\uD836[\uDC00-\uDDFF\uDE37-\uDE3A\uDE6D-\uDE74\uDE76-\uDE83\uDE85-\uDE8B]|\uD83A[\uDD5E\uDD5F]|\uD83B[\uDCAC\uDCB0\uDEF0\uDEF1]|\uD83C[\uDC00-\uDC2B\uDC30-\uDC93\uDCA0-\uDCAE\uDCB1-\uDCBF\uDCC1-\uDCCF\uDCD1-\uDCF5\uDD10-\uDD6B\uDD70-\uDDAC\uDDE6-\uDE02\uDE10-\uDE3B\uDE40-\uDE48\uDE50\uDE51\uDE60-\uDE65\uDF00-\uDFFF]|\uD83D[\uDC00-\uDED4\uDEE0-\uDEEC\uDEF0-\uDEF9\uDF00-\uDF73\uDF80-\uDFD8]|\uD83E[\uDC00-\uDC0B\uDC10-\uDC47\uDC50-\uDC59\uDC60-\uDC87\uDC90-\uDCAD\uDD00-\uDD0B\uDD10-\uDD3E\uDD40-\uDD70\uDD73-\uDD76\uDD7A\uDD7C-\uDDA2\uDDB0-\uDDB9\uDDC0-\uDDC2\uDDD0-\uDDFF\uDE60-\uDE6D])/

Your regexp use ^ and $ so it tries to match the entire string. And if you want only a boolean as the result, use test instead of match.

var format = /[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]+/;

if(format.test(string)){
  return true;
} else {
  return false;
}

Wouldn't it be easier to negative-match alphanumerics instead?

return string.match(/^[^a-zA-Z0-9]+$/) ? true : false;

var specialChars = "<>@!#$%^&*()_+[]{}?:;|'\"\\,./~`-=";
var checkForSpecialChar = function(string){
 for(i = 0; i < specialChars.length;i++){
   if(string.indexOf(specialChars[i]) > -1){
       return true
    }
 }
 return false;
}

var str = "YourText";
if(checkForSpecialChar(str)){
  alert("Not Valid");
} else {
    alert("Valid");
}

Remove the characters ^ (start of string) and $ (end of string) from the regular expression.

var format = /[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]/;

Simple solution

let text = "12AB"
const specialChars = `/[!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?]+/;`

const isSpecialCharsPresent = specialChars.split('').some(char => 
text.includes(char)) // true if present and false if not

console.log(isSpecialCharsPresent) // false

let text = "12AB."
console.log(isSpecialCharsPresent) // true

Check if a string contains at least one password special character:

For reference: ASCII Table -- Printable Characters

Special character ranges in the ASCII table are:

• Space to /
• : to @
• [ to `
• { to ~

Therefore, use this:

/[ -/:-@[-`{-~]/.test(string)

var format = /[`!@#$%^&*()_+\-=\[\]{};':"\\|,.<>\/?~]/;
//            ^                                       ^   
document.write(format.test("My @string-with(some%text)") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My string with spaces") + "<br/>");
document.write(format.test("My StringContainingNoSpecialChars"));

I just did this,

if(string.match(/\W/)){
    return true;    // Contains at least one special character or space
} else {
    return false;
}

I took an alternative approuch, without using REGEX, O(n) in performence:

function hasSpecialChars(str) {
  const specialCharsSet = new Set("!@#$%^&*()_");
  for (let letter of str) {
    if (specialCharsSet.has(letter)) {
      return true;
    }
  }
  return false;
}

You can try this:

regex = [\W_]

It will definitely help you.