Replace all plus signs (+) with space in a string

Question

I'm not sure how to escape '+' in regex. Plus can come multiple times in i so we need to replace all + in the string. Here's what I have:

i.replace(new RegExp("+","g"),' ').replace(new RegExp("selectbasic=","g"),'').split('&');

But this gives me this error:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: /+/: Nothing to repeat

i.split('+').join(' ') comes to mind, if you'd like to avoid regex. — adeneo
– adeneo, Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 20:42
@adeneo nice. more generalized replace all, would work on any substring in a string. should I be worried with the cost of splitting and joining? — Omar Tariq
– Omar Tariq, Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 20:44
I wouldn't think efficiency is an issue -> jsperf.com/split-vs-regexppp — adeneo
– adeneo, Commented Apr 2, 2014 at 20:57
Looks like you want to parse a URL. Then just use the URL API. — Sebastian Simon
– Sebastian Simon, Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 15:40

p.s.w.g · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-08 14:34:15Z

90

The + character has special significance in regular expressions. It's a quantifier meaning one or more of the previous character, character class, or group.

You need to escape the +, like this:

i.replace(new RegExp("\\+","g"),' ')...

Or more simply, by using a precompiled expression:

i.replace(/\+/g,' ')...

edited Aug 8, 2019 at 14:34

answered Apr 2, 2014 at 20:35

p.s.w.g

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