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Answer 1

+5 A:

Yes, you can. Why didn't you try this before asking?

tangens 2009-12-19 09:55:15

Be aware! Like @alexander-shvetsov explains in his answer, `bar.replace(' ', '-')` only replaces the first occurence of " ".

tangens 2009-12-19 15:00:20

Answer 2

+3 A:

It's better to use:

var string = "find this and find that".replace(/find/g, "found");

to replace all occurrences.

Alexander Shvetsov 2009-12-19 09:56:08

Sorry for being dumb but how would I do that in my case?

Rich 2009-12-19 10:14:11

var foo = bar.replace(/\ /g, '-');this means, find all regexp matches - regexps in js are surrounded by '/', with option - find all 'g', spaces ('\ ' - escaped) and replace by '-'.

Alexander Shvetsov 2009-12-19 10:22:45

Why do you think it's better to use this than `bar.replace(' ', '-')`?

tangens 2009-12-19 10:27:33

Thanks a lot, much appreciated!!

Rich 2009-12-19 10:28:07

Also worth noting that bar.replace(' ', '-') doesn't replace all occurrences. So the regex version is definitely the best way to go.

Jamie 2009-12-19 10:30:28

tangens, string.replace() in js replaces only first occurrence.

Alexander Shvetsov 2009-12-19 10:31:12

@alexander-shvetsov: Thanks, I didn't knew this difference between java and javascript.

tangens 2009-12-19 13:05:34

The OP actually asked for "spaces" (plural) to be replaced by "a dash" (singular). If `North___America` (3 underscores there, representing 3 spaces) should be changed to `North-America` (one dash, as requested), then you'd need a different regular expression.

Peter Hansen 2009-12-19 15:34:58

Answer 3

+2 A:

The best source of information for regular expressions in various languages that I've found is Regular-Expressions.info (and I linked directly to the Javascript section there).

As for your particular question, yes, you can do something like that. Did you try it?

var before = 'North America';
var after = before.replace(/ +/g, '-')
alert('"' + before + '" becomes "' + after + '"');

Use the site I showed you to analyze the regex above. Note how it replaces one or more spaces with a single hyphen, as you requested.

Peter Hansen 2009-12-19 10:28:39

Answer 4

+1 A:

For the most regular expressions, you can do it by testing with the regular expression tester.

unigg 2009-12-19 15:35:42

Nice little tool.

Chuck Conway 2010-08-11 05:22:16

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Regular expression to replace string?

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