Multiple string replace with a Regular Expression

Question

I try to replace some multiple strings with an abbreviation ... If a string occurrences more than 2 times then it is to replace with string..string. E.g. the string is as follows:

var str = 'i,u,br,br,p,p,p,p,br,br,br,br,div,div,div,div,br,br,br,p';
// The result should be as follows:
str = 'i,u,br,br,p..p,br..br,div..div,br..br,p';

Here is my approach, but it doesn't work proper:

str = str.replace(/((,\w+)){3,}/igm, ',$1...$1');

Do you have any idea how can I do it right? Thanks.

Lucas Trzesniewski · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-29 13:08:00Z

5

Sure:

(\b\w+)(?:,\1){2,}

Demo

What was required is for all the words to be the same, so you have to use a backreference in the pattern.

edited Oct 29, 2014 at 13:08

answered Oct 29, 2014 at 13:01

Lucas Trzesniewski

51.6k11 gold badges115 silver badges169 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

8 Comments

David Thomas Over a year ago

And yet still some folks claim that regular expressions are not, in fact, a dark art...

Lucas Trzesniewski Over a year ago

@David regexes are great once you grasp them, they can make many things so much simpler ;)

Paul Roub Over a year ago

Slight issue with this - it doesn't check that the initial word is a "full" word - i.e. preceded by , or at the beginning of the string. e.g. "i,u,br,br,p,p,p,p,br,br,br,br,dddiv,div,div,div,div,br,br,br,p" will produce unexpected behavior.

Karl-André Gagnon Over a year ago

Quick question, is ?: really needed or it's only for the .match function to not capture this group?

Lucas Trzesniewski Over a year ago

@Karl-Andé it's not required at all here, it's just a simple optimization

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Multiple string replace with a Regular Expression

1 Answer 1

8 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

8 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related