Regex: match pattern in all words of a string

Question

I have a regex pattern that matches leading characters before (a, b, c or i) in only the first word of a string: /^\s*[^abci]+(?=\w)/i such that:

"sanity".replace(/^\s*[^abi]+(?=\w)/i, (pattern) => 'v');
  // "vanity"

How do i define the regex newRegex such that it matches leading characters in every word of a string so that:

 "sanity is a rice".replace(newRegex, (pattern) => 'v');

outputs: vanity is a vice

/.../g = global flag to ensure all possible matches, not just the first one — Aprillion
– Aprillion, Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 8:42

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-21 09:08:55Z

2

It seems to me you want to replace any word char other than a, b, i at the beginning of a word.

You may use

.replace(/\b[^\Wabi]/gi, 'v')

See the regex demo.

\b - a word boundary
[^\Wabi] - a negated character class that matches any char other than a non-word char (so, all word chars are matched except the chars that are also present in this class), a, b and i.

The global modifier g is added so as to match all occurrences.

JS demo:

console.log(
     "sanity is a rice".replace(/\b[^\Wabi]/gi, 'v')
);

answered Jul 21, 2018 at 9:08

Wiktor Stribiżew

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Comments

Ankit Agarwal · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-21 08:40:24Z

2

You can also try using split() and map() to remove the first char and get the desired output:

function replaceChar(str){
  var matchChar = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'i'];
  var changedArr = str.split(/\s+/).map((item) => {
    if(matchChar.includes(item.charAt(1))){
      return 'v' + item.substr(1, item.length);
    }
    return item;
  });
  return changedArr.join(' ');
}
var str = 'sanity is a rice';
console.log(replaceChar(str));
str = 'This is a mice';
console.log(replaceChar(str));

answered Jul 21, 2018 at 8:40

Ankit Agarwal

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2 Comments

Akhil Aravind Over a year ago

Question is "replace with regEx", why are you not making use of that ?.

Ankit Agarwal Over a year ago

@AkhilAravind you should read what i said You can also try ? Notice that also there? This is a suggested answer.

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