why isn't my javascript .replace() working?

Question

I'm trying to remove any character except 0-9 a-z A-Z....

var file_name = file.name;
file_name = file_name.replace(/[^A-Z0-9\._\-]/i, '');

any obvious reason the above isn't working?

Answer 1

You need to specify the global-flag on your regular expression. Otherwise, only the first occurrence will be replaced:

file_name = file_name.replace(/[^A-Z0-9\._\-]/gi, '');

Answer 2

Give Regexr a go. Hover over the check boxes under the text box at the top to see the options you have. Look at the bottom pane to see the generated Regex.