number-range-list-kit

Parse comma-separated integer range lists such as 1, 3-5, 10..8 into normalized segments, safe expanded values and diagnostics.

number-range-list-kit is a small clean-room toolkit for browser forms, config editors, dashboards and import flows that need to explain user-entered range lists instead of returning a surprising array.

Links: Demo · npm · GitHub

Use parse-numeric-range when you only need a mature array expansion helper. Use number-range-list-kit when you need typed diagnostics, source spans, duplicate warnings and a guard against accidentally expanding huge ranges.

Package quality

• TypeScript types are generated from the source.
• ESM-only package with no runtime dependencies.
• Marked as side-effect free for bundlers.
• CI runs npm ci, typecheck, build, and test.
• Tested on Node.js 20 and 22 with GitHub Actions.
• Browser-friendly implementation with no Node-only APIs.

Install

npm install number-range-list-kit

Quick Start

import { expandNumberRangeList, isNumberRangeList, parseNumberRangeList } from "number-range-list-kit";

const parsed = parseNumberRangeList("1, 3-5, 10..8");

if (parsed.ok) {
  parsed.values;
  // [1, 3, 4, 5, 10, 9, 8]

  parsed.warnings;
  // [{ code: "descending_range", ... }]
} else {
  parsed.errors;
}

expandNumberRangeList("1, 3-5");
// [1, 3, 4, 5]

expandNumberRangeList("bad");
// null

isNumberRangeList("1, 3-5");
// true

Why not just another numeric range parser?

Most tiny range packages optimize for the happy path:

"1,3-5" -> [1, 3, 4, 5]

That is useful, but it is not enough for UI and config input. number-range-list-kit focuses on explainability:

• invalid parts return stable diagnostic codes;
• each segment and diagnostic includes source offsets;
• descending ranges can be accepted, warned about, or rejected;
• duplicate expanded values can be reported and optionally deduped;
• huge expansions are blocked by maxExpandedValues;
• parsing can be run without expansion when the caller only needs normalized segments.

API

parseNumberRangeList(input, options?)

Returns a discriminated result with:

• input: original runtime input.
• segments: normalized { start, end, step, text, startIndex, endIndex } objects.
• values: expanded integers when expansion is enabled.
• errors: stable issue codes and source spans on invalid input.
• warnings: duplicate values and descending ranges.

import { parseNumberRangeList } from "number-range-list-kit";

const result = parseNumberRangeList("2, 4-6, 9-7", {
  maxExpandedValues: 20,
  allowDescending: true
});

if (result.ok) {
  console.log(result.values);
  // [2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 8, 7]
} else {
  console.log(result.errors);
}

Result shape:

type NumberRangeListResult =
  | {
      ok: true;
      input: string;
      segments: NumberRangeSegment[];
      values: number[] | null;
      errors: [];
      warnings: NumberRangeIssue[];
    }
  | {
      ok: false;
      input: unknown;
      segments: NumberRangeSegment[];
      values: null;
      errors: NumberRangeIssue[];
      warnings: NumberRangeIssue[];
    };

Options:

Option	Default	Description
maxExpandedValues	1000	Maximum number of expanded integers before returning a diagnostic.
expand	true	Set to false to parse only segments and skip expansion.
allowDescending	true	Set to false to reject ranges such as 5-3.
dedupe	false	Set to true to remove duplicate expanded values while keeping duplicate warnings.

expandNumberRangeList(input, options?)

Returns an array of integers, or null when parsing fails.

import { expandNumberRangeList } from "number-range-list-kit";

expandNumberRangeList("1, 3-5");
// [1, 3, 4, 5]

isNumberRangeList(input, options?)

Returns true when the input parses without errors under the provided options. It is useful for simple form validation.

import { isNumberRangeList } from "number-range-list-kit";

isNumberRangeList("1, 3-5");
// true

isNumberRangeList("5-3", { allowDescending: false });
// false

isNumberRangeList("1-100000");
// false with the default expansion guard

isNumberRangeList("1-100000", { expand: false });
// true when you only need syntax validation

formatNumberRangeList(segments)

Formats parsed segments back into compact 1,3-5 form.

import { formatNumberRangeList, parseNumberRangeList } from "number-range-list-kit";

const result = parseNumberRangeList("1, 3 - 5", { expand: false });

if (result.ok) {
  formatNumberRangeList(result.segments);
  // "1,3-5"
}

Diagnostics

Diagnostics are designed for UI display.

Code	Meaning
not_a_string	Runtime input was not a string.
empty_part	A comma-separated part was empty.
invalid_part	A part was not an integer or supported range.
unsafe_integer	A bound cannot be represented as a safe JavaScript integer.
descending_range	A descending range was accepted and will expand high-to-low.
descending_range_disabled	A descending range was rejected by allowDescending: false.
invalid_max_expanded_values	maxExpandedValues was not a finite integer greater than or equal to 0.
max_expanded_values_exceeded	Expanded output would exceed maxExpandedValues.
duplicate_value	Expansion produced a value that was already present.

Example:

const result = parseNumberRangeList("1,,10-8", {
  allowDescending: false
});

if (!result.ok) {
  result.errors.map((error) => error.code);
  // ["empty_part", "descending_range_disabled"]
}

Syntax

• Single integers: 1, -4, +8.
• Hyphen ranges: 1-3, -3--1, 1 - -3.
• Dot ranges: 1..3, 1...3.
• Unicode range separators: 1…3, 1‥3, 1⋯3, 1–3, 1—3.
• Descending ranges: 5-3.
• Comma-separated parts with optional whitespace.

Notes

• This package parses integers only.
• Ranges are inclusive.
• No step syntax is supported, so 1-10/2 is invalid.
• No unbounded ranges are supported.
• The implementation is clean-room and does not copy code from parse-numeric-range, fill-range, multi-integer-range or related packages.

Browser support

The core has no runtime dependencies and uses only strings, arrays, sets, numbers, regular expressions and plain objects. It does not require fs, path, Buffer, process, network access or native modules.

License

MPL-2.0