CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptnode.js
Muhammad Usama
Muhammad Usama

Reputation: 180

Can Someone explain escaping a string in JavaScript

I know this line escapes a javascript string by adding \ before special characters. But can anyone explain how it does that? And also. Can it cause any problems in further string manipulations.

    str = str.replace(/[-\\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&');

Upvotes: 0

Views: 70

Answers (1)

Roman Hocke
Roman Hocke

Reputation: 4239

The regular expression replaces anything it matches with backslash and the matched substring. It matches any single characters of the set between [ and ]. That is:

  • - simple dash
  • \\ single backslash (preceded by another backslash, because it server as escape character)
  • / slash
  • \\ single backslash again (it is obsolete here)
  • ^, $, *, +, ?, ., (, ), |, [ single characters
  • \] closing bracket is preceded by escape character, otherwise it would close set of characters to match
  • {, } single characters

The replacement string \\$& simply says:

  • \\ add single backslash
  • $& add the whole substring matched by the expression

Upvotes: 1

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