JavaScript equivalent for PHP preg_replace

Question

I've been looking for a js-equivalent for the PHP preg_replace function and what I found so far is simply string.replace.

However I'm not sure how to convert my regular expression to JavaScript. This is my PHP code:

preg_replace("/( )*/", $str, $str);

So for example the following:

test   test   test test

becomes:

test-test-test-test

Anyone knows how I can do this in JavaScript?

T.Todua · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-13 09:06:32Z

50

var text = 'test   test   test test';
var fixed = text.replace(/\s+/g, '-');

edited Jan 13, 2022 at 9:06

T.Todua

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answered Aug 16, 2011 at 14:00

ant_Ti

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3 Comments

corn on the cob Over a year ago

don't you need to put quote marks around the regular expression? or am I getting confused?

ant_Ti Over a year ago

No, it's a regex literal. If we enclose it in quotes, JS will treat it like a regular string, which results in an empty match, since we don't have anything like /\s+/g in our text variable. More information can be found at MDN

corn on the cob Over a year ago

Thanks for the reference :) turns out I was getting confused

Paul Creasey · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-16 14:04:32Z

6

javascripts string.replace function also takes a regular expression:

"test    test  test    test".replace(/ +/,'-');

http://jsfiddle.net/5yn4s/

answered Aug 16, 2011 at 14:04

Paul Creasey

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Comments

Arseni Mourzenko · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-16 15:31:41Z

2

In JavaScript, you would write it as:

result = subject.replace(/ +/g, "-");

By the way, are you sure you've posted the right PHP code? It would rather be:

$result = preg_replace('/ +/', '-', $str);

edited Aug 16, 2011 at 15:31

answered Aug 16, 2011 at 14:02

Arseni Mourzenko

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2 Comments

stema Over a year ago

In this case it doesn't matter if it is ( )* or ( *) because you don't need the content of the capturing group, so you don't need the brackets at all: result = subject.replace(/ */g, "-"); will do exactly the same.

Daan Wilmer Over a year ago

I think you should use + instead of *: you want to match one or more spaces, not zero or more. I haven't tested this, but otherwise it might produce -t-e-s-t-t-e-s-t-t-e-s-t-t-e-s-t-

J0HN · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-16 13:59:13Z

0

See javascript replace function reference.

In your case it is something like

var result = str.replace(/\s+/g, '-');

But that replaces only one space. Working on it now :)

answered Aug 16, 2011 at 13:59

J0HN

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2 Comments

Michael Berkowski Over a year ago

Needs a /g for global replacement

mellamokb Over a year ago

And needs to be replaced with '-', not ''.

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