RegExp in actionscript 3: convert url to char coded text

Question

I have a little AS3 script to convert all special characters in a string to their character codes.

Here is the script:

url = url.replace(new RegExp("%","g"),"%25")
            .replace(new RegExp("?","g"),"%3F")
            .replace(new RegExp(":","g"),"%3A")
            .replace(new RegExp("/","g"),"%2F")
            .replace(new RegExp("=","g"),"%3D")
            .replace(new RegExp("&","g"),"%26");

Now, I'm not even a beginner with RegExp, but I gave it a try. The little script seems to do the trick quite well, but only the question mark (?) isn't replaced.

Anyone who can tell me why?

If you can also tell me a more short way to code this, feel free to share it, I know this isn't the best practice of RegExp...

greets

Shorter way would be to use a regular expression literal: .replace(/%/g, "%25"). Note that in this case, the ? would only need one backslash for escaping: /\?/g, because the backslash is not inside a string. There's no other way to replace all occurrences that is shorter, faster or better practice (OK, better practice is debatable). Except if crooksy88's way applies to your case, which I'd say it does. — JimmiTh
– JimmiTh, Commented Nov 19, 2012 at 22:32

Alan Moore · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-19 21:00:07Z

3

You have to escape the question mark: "\?"

edited Nov 19, 2012 at 21:00

Alan Moore

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answered Nov 19, 2012 at 20:49

Lukasz 'Severiaan' Grela

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2 Comments

JimmiTh Over a year ago

... with an additional backslash: "\\?". The first one to escape the second one, the second one to escape the '?' in the regular expression.

Hans Vn Over a year ago

@TheKaneda addiditonal backslash works, but now I'm using the encodeURIComponent() you commented at the other anwer.

crooksy88 · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-19 21:56:51Z

2

Not sure if this is of help but do you know about escape?

e.g.

var encodedURL:String = escape(url);

answered Nov 19, 2012 at 21:56

crooksy88

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2 Comments

JimmiTh Over a year ago

The use case here seems slightly different, since Hans Vn is specifically encoding the URL special characters (specifically the '/', which is not converted by escape()) - likely for use as a URL parameter? In that case, encodeURIComponent() would be closer: var encodedURL:String = encodeURIComponent(url); adobe.ly/URndUU

Hans Vn Over a year ago

@TheKaneda: encodeURIComponent() seems to do the trick just fine. thanks!

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