You can use this regex replace:
str = str.replace(/(\S)-(\S)/g, '$1$2');
Here (\S)-(\S) matches a non-space character followed by hyphen followed by another non-space character. We are also capturing both adjacent characters in group and then in replacement we put back $1$2.
const regex = /(\S)-(\S)/g;
const str = `dog-cat
dog - cat
1-1
1 - 1
$-$
$ - $
^-^
^ - ^`;
// The substituted value will be contained in the result variable
const result = str.replace(regex, '$1$2');
console.log(result);To remove all - chars in between non-whitespace chars you should use
.replace(/(\S)-(?=\S)/g, '$1')
See the regex demo.
Here,
(\S) - maches and captures any non-whitespace char into Group 1- - a hyphen(?=\S) - (a positive lookahead assuring that) after the hyphen, there must be a char other than a whitespace. This char is not consumed, i.e. the regex index stays right before it, allowing to match that char with the next iteration (as g global modifier will allow matching all occurrences of a regex pattern in a string).JS demo:
var rx = /(\S)-(?=\S)/g;
var s = "dog-cat\ndog - cat\n1-1\n1 - 1\n$-$\n$ - $\n^-^\n^ - ^\n1-1-1-1";
console.log(s.replace(rx, '$1'));
try this regex: "dog-cat".replace(/(?=\S)(-)(?=\S)/g, '')
/(?<=\S)-(?=\S)/g. However, the lookbehind is not yet supported in all browsers.
str = str.replace(/(\S)-(\S)/g, '$1$2');11-11for1-1-1-1input, do you really want that? See my answer.