regex replace every 2nd occurrence with Javascript

Question

I would like to replace some keywords to HTML elements in a textarea with javascript. Is there any way to replace every 2nd string that has been found?

Just for an example what I mean is: if there are 6 $ signs in the string, the first, third, and fifth would be replaced to HTML tag and the rest to </strong> HTML tag.

Could you please show example of input string and expected output? — Poul Bak
– Poul Bak, Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 23:41

Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-14 23:45:05Z

3

Do the match and replace in pairs with a capture group between them:

string = 'This is a $word$ and $two words$ and a $phrase with several words$.';
newstring = string.replace(/\$([^$]*)\$/g, '<strong>$1</strong>');
console.log(newstring);

answered Nov 14, 2018 at 23:45

Barmar

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6 Comments

Snowmonkey Over a year ago

Damn. I was SO overcomplicating that, trying to work with lookaheads and lookbehinds and all. Massive props. I want to like this one TWICE!

Barmar Over a year ago

Yeah, it's easy to get a mental block if you don't think about things in the right way. You were so focused on the $, you didn't think about the phrases.

Barmar Over a year ago

That gets replaced with the string that was captured by the capture group. Any regexp tutorial will explain this.

Snowmonkey Over a year ago

@Roelly, take a look at the MDN article on regex, and search the page for "capturing groups". developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/…

Barmar Over a year ago

Also see this tutorial

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