RegEx to substitute tag names, leaving the content and attributes intact

Question

I would like to replace opening and closing tag, leaving the content of tags and its attribute intact.

Here is what I have:

<div class="QText">Text to be kept</div>

to be replaced with

<span class="QText">Text to be kept</span>

I tried this expression which finds all expressions I want but there seems to be no way to replace found expressions.

<div class="QText">(.*?)</div>

Thanks in advance.

If its going to be literal like that, capture what's to be kept, then replace the rest, i.e. Find `
.*?)div>` replace `` — , Mar 14 '14 at 16:49
@sln, can you post it as the answer - it works like a charm! — AlexShevyakov, Mar 14 '14 at 17:05

Amit Joki · Answer 1 · 2014-03-14T17:02:35.693

2

Just replace div.

var s="<div class='QText'>Text to be kept</div>";
alert(s.replace(/div/g,"span"));

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/9sgvP/

Mark it as answer if it helps ;)

edited Mar 14 '14 at 17:02

answered Mar 14 '14 at 16:40

Amit Joki

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Well, you're using JS, the question was to use Find/Replace+RegEx. Thanks anyway! – AlexShevyakov Mar 14 '14 at 17:00
@Alexander you'll have to use js even if you want to use regex – Amit Joki Mar 14 '14 at 17:01
Well, Sln's reply above answers the questions perfectly. – AlexShevyakov Mar 14 '14 at 17:04
@Alexander, why do you think regex is a separate thing? Its part of javascript – Amit Joki Mar 14 '14 at 17:06
because for the task I posted, Regex suits perfectly; the task was a simple Find/Replace job. Why do we need JS for that? – AlexShevyakov Mar 14 '14 at 17:07
let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/49769/discussion-between-alexander-and-amit-joki) – AlexShevyakov Mar 14 '14 at 17:13

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

I think @AmitJoki's answer will work well enough in certain circumstances, but if you only want to replace div elements when they have an attribute or a specific set of attributes, then you would want to use a regex replacement with backreferences - how you specify and refer to a backreference, unfortunately, depends upon your chosen editor. Visual Studio has the most unique and annoying "flavor" of regex I know of, while Dreamweaver has a fairly typical implementation (both as well as I imagine whatever editor you're using do regex replacement - you just have to know the menu item or keystroke to bring up the dialog).

If memory serves, Dreamweaver has replacement options when you hit Ctrl+F, while you have to hit Ctrl+H, so try those.

Once you get a "Find" and "Replace" box, you would put something like what you have in your last example above: <div class="QText">(.*?)</div> or perhaps <div class="(QText|RText|SText)">(.*?)</div> into your "Find" box, then put something like <span class="QText">\1</span> or <span class="\1">\2</span> in the "Replacement" box. A few utilities might use $1 to refer to a backreference rather than \1, but you'll have to lookup help or experiment to be sure.

If you are using a language to run this expression, you need to tell us which language.

If you are using a specific editor to run this expression, you need to tell us which editor.

...and never forget the prevailing wisdom on regex and HTML

this worked extremely well `
.*?)div> replace ` Thanks you! Using SublimeText 3 — AlexShevyakov, Mar 14 '14 at 17:10
I see - you used a different answer than one that I provided. it looks like @sln posted his answer. good luck in your future endeavors! — Code Jockey, Mar 15 '14 at 02:59

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '14 at 18:04

1

Posted as requested

If its going to be literal like that, capture what's to be kept, then replace the rest,

Find: <div( class="QText">.*?</)div>
Replace: <span$1span>

answered Mar 14 '14 at 18:04

RegEx to substitute tag names, leaving the content and attributes intact

3 Answers3