RegEx not working in Javascript: SCRIPT5018: Unexpected quantifier

Question

I'm trying to make a RegEx that can single out words from a string but ignore them if they're inside a tag. For example: Even though the searchword is SPAN, do not replace a span tag.

What I have so far is:

(?<![<\/])\bspan\b(?!>)

http://regex101.com/r/vS6yG6

Span obviously is a placeholder. In the script it is generated from a dictionary dynamically.

This is what I'm trying to run:

var reg = new RegExp(the expression, 'gi');

I've escaped the /, so I'm not sure where the problem is.

And this is what I get back: SCRIPT5018: Unexpected quantifier

Any help would be appreciated. I made the Regular Expression with the help of regex101.com.

Yeah, that's exactelly what I'm doing. but 'span' is added in a loop. I use the expression from the link but escaped '/'. — Vhendin
– Vhendin, Commented Jul 3, 2013 at 10:39
Negative LookBehind does not exist in javascript. There are workarounds — David Hedlund
– David Hedlund, Commented Jul 3, 2013 at 10:40
Oh it's that simple? Too bad. Okay, I'll look at the workaround. Thank you! — Vhendin
– Vhendin, Commented Jul 3, 2013 at 10:44

Krishna · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-03 10:46:43Z

1

Try this ...

/>[^<>]*\b(span)\b[^<>]*<?/ig

answered Jul 3, 2013 at 10:46

Krishna

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Vhendin Over a year ago

Nope, that selects half the string.

Vhendin · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-03 10:46:54Z

1

Like David replied, there is no Negative LookBehind in Javascript, so that's where the problem was.

http://blog.stevenlevithan.com/archives/mimic-lookbehind-javascript

answered Jul 3, 2013 at 10:46

Vhendin

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