Jquery replace variable in all text syntax regex

Question

This does not work because of the variable rep. What is the correct syntax please?

var bigtext = 'testing test test test';
var rep = 'test'; 
bigtext = bigtext.replace(/rep/g, "MOO!");

I know the problem is with the regex part in the replace...but what is the correct way to write it?

possible duplicate of Using a string variable as regular expression and Pass a variable into regex with string replace. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Aug 14, 2012 at 14:18
And what has jQuery got to do with basic regular expressions? — epascarello
– epascarello, Commented Aug 14, 2012 at 14:18
@David: epascarello's point was that this has nothing to do with jQuery. Regular expressions are a feature of the language itself. — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Aug 14, 2012 at 14:21

lonesomeday · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-14 14:18:05Z

7

You need to build a regex using the RegExp constructor:

var bigtext = 'testing test test test';
var rep = 'test'; 
var regex = new RegExp(rep, 'g');
bigtext = bigtext.replace(regex, "MOO!");

Documentation for this constructor can be seen on the MDN page. Note that you probably should make sure that any special characters in regular expressions (e.g. [) are escaped.

answered Aug 14, 2012 at 14:18

lonesomeday

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1 Comment

David19801 Over a year ago

This works thanks! and also thanks for the link to more information.

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