regex - unable to parse - in Regular expression in Javascript -

i bit new regular expressions in javascript.

i trying write function called parseregexpression() parses attributes passed , generates key/value pairs works fine input:

"icontype:plus;iconposition:bottom;" 

but not able parse input:

"type:'date';locale:'en-us';" 

basically - sign being ignored. code at:

http://jsfiddle.net/visibleinvisibly/zss5g/

the regular expression key value pair below

/[a-z|a-z|-]*\s*:\s*[a-z|a-z|'|"|:|-|_|\/|\.|0-9]*\s*;|[a-z|a-z|-]*\s*:\s*[a-z|a-z|'|"|:|-|_|\/|\.|0-9]*\s*$/gi;     

there few problems:

• a | inside character class means literal | character, not alternation.
• a . inside character class means literal . character, there's no need escape it.
• a - first or last character inside character class means literal - character, otherwise means character range.
• there's no need use [a-za-z] when use case-insensitive modifier (i); [a-z] enough.
• the difference between alterations last bit; can simplified limiting alternation part different.

this should equivalent original pattern:

/[a-z-]*\s*:\s*[a-z0-9'":_\/.-]*\s*(?:;|$)/gi