replace() method is not replacing inputs

Question

What's supposed to happen is certain profanity typed in and submitted by the user is supposed to be replaced with the censored word.

However, that's not the case. It shows the word without the censor.

Should I use the if/else statements to make this work?

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
  <script>
    function myFunction() {
      var text = document.getElementById('input').value;
      var result = document.getElementById('clean');
      /* Fake 'bad words' for illustration */
      var a = text.replace("ack", "a**");
      var ba = text.replace("bandaid", "b******");
      var bi = text.replace("butch", "b****");
      var f = text.replace("frack", "f****");
      var p = text.replace("pee", "p**");
      var s = text.replace("shoot", "s****");
      var c = text.replace("cart", "c***");
      var n = text.replace("night", "n****");

      result.innerHTML = text;
    }
  </script>
</head>

<body>
  <textarea id="input"></textarea>
  <br />
  <input type="submit" onclick="myFunction();" />
  <p id="clean"></p>
</body>

</html>

Replace only works for one instance of the target string. Try `text = text.split('ass').join('a**')` instead. — tewathia, Jan 15 '14 at 05:28
[You MUST read this...](http://blog.codinghorror.com/obscenity-filters-bad-idea-or-incredibly-intercoursing-bad-idea/) — ThiefMaster, Apr 15 '14 at 08:25

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 15 '14 at 05:34

4

replace returns a new string but does not modify the original.

This means, you should work with the returned value.

In this case, text = text.replace(..)

Edit: Also, you might consider using regular expressions for this: "hello world".replace( /world/g, 'foo' ), so that multiple instances of a search pattern will be replaced.

edited Jan 15 '14 at 05:34

user2864740

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answered Jan 15 '14 at 05:28

snwflk

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 15 '14 at 07:42

you are assigning the same value in clean which you get from your input try this to show your result in clean applied on the `input'

function myFunction() {
        var text = document.getElementById('input').value;
        var result = document.getElementById('clean');
        text = text.replace("ack","a**");
        text = text.replace("bandaid","b******");
        text = text.replace("butch","b****");
        text = text.replace("frack","f****");
        text = text.replace("pee","p**");
        text = text.replace("shoot","s****");
        text = text.replace("cart","c***");
        text = text.replace("night","n****");

        result.innerHTML=text;
    }

Thank you, this worked however @tewathia answered that first haha — Jamie Vic, Jan 15 '14 at 05:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 15 '14 at 07:45

Can you try this, I have rewritten the function for ease in sue.

<script>
    function myFunction() {
        var text = document.getElementById('input').value;
        var result = document.getElementById('clean');
        var Clean =  new Array("ack", "bandaid", "butch", "frack", "pee", "shoot", "cart", "night");
        var len = Clean.length;
        for(var i=0; i<len;i++){  
              text = AddHide(Clean[i], text);
        }
        result.innerHTML=text;
    }

    function AddHide(Text, String){
        if(String!=""){
            var StringLen = parseInt(Text.length)-1;
            var First = Text.charAt(0);             
            for(var k=0; k<StringLen;k++){                
                First +="*";
            }           
            String = String.replace(Text,First);
        }
        return String;
    }

</script>

@SunilDevre: if you do clean up offensive words in a post, do so in context. Not just this answer, but all answers and the question as well. — Martijn Pieters, Apr 15 '14 at 07:48

replace() method is not replacing inputs

3 Answers3