string.replace("é", "e") not working

Question

I have function that is supposed to "clean" a string and i'd like to use replace() to do that, but I can't figure out why the following code is not working when the text comes from an input[text].

for instance :

console.log(getCleanText("ééé")); // works fine, it displays : eee

but

// my_id is an input with type="text"
var my_text = document.getElementById("my_id").value 
console.log(getCleanText(my_text)); // doesn't work at all, it displays : ééé

the function code is :

function getCleanText(some_text) {
    var clean_text = some_text.toLowerCase();
    clean_text = clean_text.replace("é", "e"); 
    clean_text = clean_text.split("é").join("e"); // give it another try

    return clean_text;
}

any idea ?

FWIW, do you know that `clean_text.replace("é", "e")` will replace only the first `é` with `e`? — VisioN, Nov 15 '13 at 14:41
I didn't, thanx for the info, but that doesn't explain why none is being replaced :/ — Banibal, Nov 15 '13 at 14:43
Try `clean_text.replace(/é/g, "e")` instead of `clean_text.replace("é", "e")`. — Aadit M Shah, Nov 15 '13 at 14:47
Ok, so it means I have a problem with my computer configuration then. If anyone has ever had that kind of issue I'd be happy to know how he solved it... — Banibal, Nov 15 '13 at 14:48
Check whether your file is stored with the proper encoding. It should be "UTF-8". — Aadit M Shah, Nov 15 '13 at 14:49
maybe it deals with your computer's default language configuration...what kind of keyboard is set up for your computer? — user2277872, Nov 15 '13 at 14:49
I tried your version Aadit M Shah but it still displays ééé — Banibal, Nov 15 '13 at 14:50

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 14:50

4

I'm willing to bet your problem lies in a misunderstanding of Unicode.

é 
é

Those two characters above are two different characters. The first is the letter e, with an accent character (U+0301). The other is a single character, U+00E9.

You need to ensure you're replacing both versions.

answered Nov 15 '13 at 14:50

Matt Grande

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Most intuitive answer of the lot. +1 – Aadit M Shah Nov 15 '13 at 14:51
I tried several things to check on that but i dont really know how to ensure i'm using both. – Banibal Nov 15 '13 at 14:57
1

I gave a shot by using "\u00E9" and "\u0301" and it works fine ! Thanx a lot. But now I'm wondering how I will replace all those funky chars... – Banibal Nov 15 '13 at 15:10

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

2

I think the character "é" from element value is the different from the "é" constant. To resolve that you can take look at the int value of the input.

var inputEValue = document.getElementById("my_id").charCodeAt(0);
var constantEValue = "é".charCodeAt(0);

Then you will be able to detect what characters you are replacing.
If you want to just remove accents from text, take look at the question Remove accents/diacritics in a string in JavaScript

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Nov 15 '13 at 14:51

Marek

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Indeed, I have the code 233 for my input and i have 65533 for the constant – Banibal Nov 15 '13 at 15:01

Robert Hoffmann · Answer 3 · 2013-11-15T14:55:07.193

1

Try this:

function cleanText(text) {
    var re = new RegExp(/\u0301|\u00e9/g);

    return text.replace(re, "e").toLowerCase();
}

cleanText("éééé")

--

Updated to use the proposed UniCode chars by Matt Grande

edited Nov 15 '13 at 14:55

answered Nov 15 '13 at 14:49

Robert Hoffmann

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Hmm -- if the input text consists of "e,acute" then your code will return "ee". You are better off replacing all combining accents with nothing, and then check for precomposed characters. – Jongware Nov 15 '13 at 14:58

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

1

Try this:

function getCleanText(old_string)
{
    var new_string = old_string.toLowerCase();
    return new_string.replace(/é/g, 'e');
}

Ed: beaten by the Robert. For reference, see here: What are useful JavaScript methods that extends built-in objects?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:28

Community

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answered Nov 15 '13 at 14:49

Euan T

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How about simply `return old_string.toLowerCase().replace(/é/g, 'e')`? – Aadit M Shah Nov 15 '13 at 14:50
That works, of course. I just try to avoid crazy chaining of methods. – Euan T Nov 15 '13 at 14:51
You could always put a newline in between: `return old_string.toLowerCase() /* newline */ .replace(/é/g, 'e')` – Aadit M Shah Nov 15 '13 at 14:52
True, but a single variable hardly adds any overhead. – Euan T Nov 15 '13 at 14:53

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 15 '13 at 15:01

0

What is the output of var my_text = document.getElementById("my_id").value; ? Depending on your html, you might need to use other functions to get the data. e.g var my_text = document.getElementById("my_id").innerHTML;

http://jsbin.com/obAmiPe/5/edit?html,js,console,output

answered Nov 15 '13 at 15:01

pogola

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the output is ééé. I tried to replace .value by .innerHtml and .innerText but it gives the same result – Banibal Nov 15 '13 at 15:07

string.replace("é", "e") not working

5 Answers5