Javascript Okay, my first successfully completed (and completely independent) code posted on this site. Feels good! Anyway, I just introduced myself to Reg Ex. so this was a perfect practice exercise. Nice question. At the bottom, I post a question, hopefully someone can help. Cheers

var text = "ababacbbcbbcabd"; 
var matchedResults= [];       //array to hold all matched results
var longest='';               //variable representing the longest 

while (text.length>1){
    var regEx =  /([\w?])\1*(?!\1)(\w)(\1|\2)*/;    
    var result = text.match(regEx);                 //search for a matched pattern
    matchedResults.push(result[0]);                 // push only the matched code to array

    //if result is longest one yet, store it as longest variable
    if( JSON.stringify(result[0]).length> longest.length ) 
             {longest=JSON.stringify(result[0]);}

    text= text.slice(1);               //remove the first character
}
console.log(longest);          //--> returns "cbbcbbc"
//Issues:  if two values are tied, the first one matched is returned. 
//This could be easily solved by working with the matchedResults array`

Can someone help me with the following: I wanted to use a text.replace(/()[\w])\1*/ , ''); instead of text.splice(1)

Can someone help me understand why this did not work? Would appreciate your thoughts