How to replace string characters with only one blank space?

Question

I'm trying to replace all "WUB" in a string with a blank space. The problem is, if I have 2 "WUB" in a row, it will return 2 blank spaces. How do only return 1 blank space if I have "WUBWUB"?

function songDecoder(song) {
    var replacedLyrics = song.replace(/#|WUB/g,' ');
    return replacedLyrics;
}

Possible duplicate of [Replace multiple whitespaces with single whitespace in JavaScript string](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6163169/replace-multiple-whitespaces-with-single-whitespace-in-javascript-string) — Steve, Oct 31 '18 at 18:43
@SteveNosse, that question addresses a string that already has multiple whitespaces in it. This question seeks to prevent such an occurrence in the first place. — pwilcox, Nov 01 '18 at 20:18

Cid · Answer 1 · 2018-10-31T15:16:58.423

3

Try this regex /(WUB)+/g it will match 1 or more element in the parenthesis

function songDecoder(song)
{
    var replacedLyrics = song.replace(/(WUB)+/g,' ');
    return (replacedLyrics);
}

console.log(songDecoder("hello world !"));
console.log(songDecoder("WUB"));
console.log(songDecoder("helloWUBWUBworldWUB!"));

edited Oct 31 '18 at 15:16

answered Oct 31 '18 at 15:10

Cid

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pwilcox · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-31T15:41:46.320

0

/#|WUB/g should be /#|(WUB)+/g for your purpose. Do you also want to replace multiple "#"s with a single space. Then you might want /(#|WUB)+/g

The parentheses group the target strings together, then plus seeks one or more repetition of the group.

If you don't want a space at the beginning or end of your string, that could be another regex function, but probably the most straightforward method is to use the .trim() function. So:

alert(
    songDecoder('WUBYOUREWUBWELCOMEWUB')
)
 
function songDecoder(song) {
    var replacedLyrics = song.replace(/(#|WUB)+/g,' ').trim();
    return replacedLyrics;
}

edited Oct 31 '18 at 15:41

answered Oct 31 '18 at 15:08

pwilcox

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worked like a charm! but let say you don't want a space at the beginning or at the end for example "WUBTHANKWUBYOUWUB" to extract "THANK YOU" – Marvin Oct 31 '18 at 15:12
Of course @marinafive. Consider marking as an answer! – pwilcox Oct 31 '18 at 15:36

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 31 '18 at 15:09

0

Change your code to .replace(/#|(WUB)+/g, " ");.

This searches for as many "WUB's" in a row before replacing them with a blank space

answered Oct 31 '18 at 15:09

T. Dirks

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How to replace string characters with only one blank space?

3 Answers3