Javascript string replace space with no-break space after a specific word

Question

I have specific word (for example "in") after which I want to replace a space with a no-break space. I used plain replace: from " in " to " in" + String.fromCharCode(160).

However words are not always surrounded by spaces - for eample in this sentence:

This is sample text (in which there are parentheses).

So I need a regex to replace a space after "in" with a no-break space. How can I do this?

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-16 19:43:55Z

3

You may use a word boundary before in

.replace(/\bin /g, "in" + String.fromCharCode(160))

To make it case insensitive:

.replace(/\b(in) /ig, "$1" + String.fromCharCode(160))

Here is the regex demo

See demo below:

console.log(
    "In this is sample text (in which there are parentheses)."
     .replace(/\b(in) /ig, "$1" + String.fromCharCode(160))
);

edited Jun 16, 2016 at 19:43

answered Jun 16, 2016 at 19:37

Wiktor Stribiżew

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3 Comments

prompteus Over a year ago

Thanks, works perfectly. How can use a variable instead of "in"? I tried new RegExp("\b(" + preposition + ") ", "ig"); but it doesn't work.

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

Using the constructor is the right way, just the backslash must be doubled: new RegExp("\\b(" + preposition + ") ", "ig");

prompteus Over a year ago

Oh, I see - I have to escape the backslash to make the string literal express "\b" because otherwise the first backslash would escape the "b" and wouldn't be passed to the constructor. is it true?

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