Javascript - replacing a word using regexp only if there's a space around it.

Question

A cut down version of my code sort of looks like this:

string="test test testtest testtest test";
replacer="test";
string=string.replace(new RegExp(' '+replacer+' ','gi')," REPLACED ");

Now, I want to replace a word only if there's a space surrounding it, The code actually works fine but I'm just wondering why the one below which would be better in my case doesn't work.

RegExp('\s'+replacer+'\s','gi')

Answer 1

Why don't you try this:

RegExp('\\s'+replacer+'\\s','gi')

Answer 2

Your example will replace tabs with spaces.

You probably want this:

string=string.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+replacer+'\\b','gi'),"REPLACED");

Or, if you really want only whitespace to separate words, then you could use something like this:

string=string.replace(new RegExp('(\\s)'+replacer+'(\\s)','gi'),"$1REPLACED$2");