Table of Contents
Issue
I have this string in my JavaScript code:
"Test abc test test abc test test test abc test test abc"
Doing:
str = str.replace('abc', '');
Seems to only remove the first occurrence of abc in the string above.
How can I replace all occurrences of it?
Solution
Update: In the latest versions of most popular browsers, you can use replaceAll
as shown here:
let result = "1 abc 2 abc 3".replaceAll("abc", "xyz");
// `result` is "1 xyz 2 xyz 3"
But check Can I use or another compatibility table first to make sure the browsers you’re targeting have added support for it first.
For Node and compatibility with older/non-current browsers:
Note: Don’t use the following solution in performance critical code.
As an alternative to regular expressions for a simple literal string, you could use
str = "Test abc test test abc test...".split("abc").join("");
The general pattern is
str.split(search).join(replacement)
This used to be faster in some cases than using replaceAll and a regular expression, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore in modern browsers.
Benchmark: https://jsben.ch/TZYzj
Conclusion:
If you have a performance critical use case (e.g processing hundreds of strings), use the Regexp method. But for most typical use cases, this is well worth not having to worry about special characters.
Answered By – Matthew Crumley
Answer Checked By – Candace Johnson (BugsFixing Volunteer)