Simplifying text.replace() in Javascript

Question

How can this code be written in a simplified manner?

text.replace('</p>','<br/>').replace('</P>','<br/>');

What happens to the opening -tag? And: Your code replaces the first occurrence only. I do not think that this is what you need. And: HTML manipulation using its string representation? In JavaScript? Seriously? And: Its  , not  ! — jwueller
– jwueller, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 14:55
@Yosef: Wouldn't that result in invalid markup? Omitting a closing tag is usually a bad idea. — jwueller
– jwueller, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 15:00
@Yosef - then you are creating malformed HTML, which the browser will correct anyway when building the DOM. — Kobi
– Kobi, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 15:00
@elusive @Kobi I think he is keeping the last closing tag by some condition =). So you get a lot of breaks and then the last closing tag again. Seems fine to me. — Marnix
– Marnix, Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 15:03

Kobi · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-20 14:59:01Z

7

You can write:

text.replace(/<\/p>/ig,'<br/>');

/<\/p>/ is the regex, which matches the literal string. / is escaped because it is the regex delimiter in JavaScript.
/ig are the regex flags - i for case-insensitive, and g for global, to replace more than the first .

However, JavaScript has much better tools for dealing with the DOM structure, you can do better than manipulating raw source code. For example, using jQuery you can write:

$('p').replaceWith('<br />');

or:

$('p').after('<br />');

None of them may do what you need, but it is probably easier and more robust without sting manipulations.

edited Jan 20, 2011 at 14:59

answered Jan 20, 2011 at 14:53

Kobi

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3 Comments

Kobi Over a year ago

@Yosef - Already there, even used a jQuery example. However, you need to explain better what you're trying to do :)

Marnix Over a year ago

$('p').replaceWith(' '); would replace the complete p and content with a breakline, right?

Kobi Over a year ago

@Marnix - Correct! As I've said, it isn't too clear what the OP is aiming for here, this is just an example.

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