For this specific example,

 var thenum = thestring.replace(/^\D+/g, ''); // Replace all leading non-digits with nothing

In the general case:

 thenum = "foo3bar5".match(/\d+/)[0] // "3"

Here's a bonus: regex generator.

function getre(str, num) {
  if(str === num)
    return 'nice try';
  var res = [/^\D+/g,/\D+$/g,/^\D+|\D+$/g,/\D+/g,/\D.*/g, /.*\D/g,/^\D+|\D.*$/g,/.*\D(?=\d)|\D+$/g];
  for(var i = 0; i < res.length; i++)
    if(str.replace(res[i], '') === num)
      return 'num = str.replace(/' + res[i].source + '/g, "")';
  return 'no idea';
};

function update() {
  $ = function(x) { return document.getElementById(x) };
  var re = getre($('str').value, $('num').value);
  $('re').innerHTML = 'Numex speaks: <code>' + re + '</code>';
}

<p>Hi, I'm Numex, the Number Extractor Oracle.
<p>What is your string? <input id="str" value="42abc"></p>
<p>What number do you want to extract? <input id="num" value="42"></p>
<p><button onclick="update()">Insert Coin</button></p>
<p id="re"></p>

I used the following regexp to extract numbers from a string:

var string = "border-radius:10px 20px 30px 40px";
var numbers = string.match(/\d+/g).map(Number);