In Javascript, how can I perform a global replace on string with a variable inside '/' and '/g'?
JavascriptRegexStringJavascript Problem Overview
I want to perform a global replace of string using String.replace in Javascript.
In the documentation I read that I can do this with /g, i.e. for example;
var mystring = mystring.replace(/test/g, mystring);
and this will replace all occurrences inside mystring. No quotes for the expression.
But if I have a variable to find, how can I do this without quotes?
I've tried something like this:
var stringToFind = "test";
//first try
mystring = mystring.replace('/' + stringToFind + '/g', mystring);
//second try, not much sense at all
mystring = mystring.replace(/stringToFind/g, mystring);
but they don't work. Any ideas?
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
var mystring = "hello world test world";
var find = "world";
var regex = new RegExp(find, "g");
alert(mystring.replace(regex, "yay")); // alerts "hello yay test yay"
In case you need this into a function
replaceGlobally(original, searchTxt, replaceTxt) {
const regex = new RegExp(searchTxt, 'g');
return original.replace(regex, replaceTxt) ;
}
Solution 2 - Javascript
For regex, new RegExp(stringtofind, 'g');
. BUT. If ‘find’ contains characters that are special in regex, they will have their regexy meaning. So if you tried to replace the '.' in 'abc.def' with 'x', you'd get 'xxxxxxx' — whoops.
If all you want is a simple string replacement, there is no need for regular expressions! Here is the plain string replace idiom:
mystring= mystring.split(stringtofind).join(replacementstring);
Solution 3 - Javascript
Regular expressions are much slower then string search. So, creating regex with escaped search string is not an optimal way. Even looping though the string would be faster, but I suggest using built-in pre-compiled methods.
Here is a fast and clean way of doing fast global string replace:
sMyString.split(sSearch).join(sReplace);
And that's it.
Solution 4 - Javascript
String.prototype.replaceAll = function (replaceThis, withThis) {
var re = new RegExp(RegExp.quote(replaceThis),"g");
return this.replace(re, withThis);
};
RegExp.quote = function(str) {
return str.replace(/([.?*+^$[\]\\(){}-])/g, "\\$1");
};
var aa = "qwerr.erer".replaceAll(".","A");
alert(aa);
Solution 5 - Javascript
You can use the following solution to perform a global replace on a string with a variable inside '/' and '/g':
myString.replace(new RegExp(strFind, 'g'), strReplace);
Solution 6 - Javascript
Thats a regular expression, not a string. Use the constructor for a RegExp object to dynamically create a regex.
var r = new RegExp(stringToFind, 'g');
mystring.replace(r, 'some replacement text');
Solution 7 - Javascript
Try:
var stringToFind = "test";
mystring = mystring.replace(new RegExp(stringToFind, "g"), mystring);
Solution 8 - Javascript
If you want variables interpolated, you need to use the RegExp object
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Guide/Regular_Expressions
Example:
var str = "This is my name";
var replace = "i";
var re = new RegExp(replace, 'g')
str = str.replace(re, 'p');
alert(str);
Solution 9 - Javascript
Dynamic global replace
I came to this thread looking for a slightly more complex solution which isn't answered here. I've now found the answer so I'm going to post it in case anyone else finds it useful.
I wanted to do a dynamic global replace, where the replacement strings are based on the original matches.
For example, to capitalise the first letter of all words (e.g. "cat sat mat" into "Cat Sat Mat") with a global find replace. Here's how to do that.
function capitaliseWords(aString) {
// Global match for lowercase letters following a word boundary
var letters = aString.match(/\b[a-z]/g), i, letterMatch;
// Loop over all matched letters
for( i = 0; i < letters.length; i++ ) {
// Replace the matched letters with upper case versions
letterMatch = new RegExp('\\b'+letters[i]); // EDIT - slight fix
aString = aString.replace(letterMatch, letters[i].toUpperCase());
}
// Return our newly capitalised string
return aString;
}
alert( capitaliseWords("cat sat mat") ); // Alerts "Cat Sat Mat"
Solution 10 - Javascript
You can do using following method
see this function:
function SetValue()
{
var txt1='This is a blacK table with BLack pen with bLack lady';
alert(txt1);
var txt2= txt1.replace(/black/gi,'green');
alert(txt2);
}
syntax:
> /search_string/{g|gi}
where
- g is global case-sensitive replacement
- gi is blobal case-insensitive replacement
You can check this JSBIN link
Solution 11 - Javascript
Can you use prototype.js? If so you could use String.gsub, like
var myStr = "a day in a life of a thing";
var replace = "a";
var resultString = myStr.gsub(replace, "g");
// resultString will be "g day in g life of g thing"
It will also take regular expressions. To me this is one of the more elegant ways to solve it. prototypejs gsub documentation