exclude regex on the same part of string

Question

Hello i need to colorize some text in the contentEditable div. Let's say i need to highlight + with blue color. On keyup event i do following $textarea.html($textarea.html().replace((/-/))/g,"<span class='blue'>$1</span>") The obvious problem that replace fires up on the same part of stirng more than once (because i have keyup event). I can use only that type of event keyup event. How to do this? Thanks

UPD* Maybe im not clear describe my problem. Im typing '-' and then continute type - asdasdad. The problem is keyup event fires after each letter (this is a must), so i get too much spans, because '-' is always in string.

This question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5331644/regex-to-search-html-return-but-not-actual-html-jquery/5403731#5403731 — Ricardo Tomasi, Apr 06 '11 at 13:55

Sasha Aickin · Answer 1 · 2011-04-06T15:00:01.363

2

One thing you could try is a negative lookahead, something like:

$textarea.html($textarea.html().replace((/-(?!<\/span>/))/g,"<span class='blue'>$1</span>")

That matches any "-" that isn't followed by "</span>". After you have replaced a particular dash once, it shouldn't get replaced on the next keyup. It's a bit of a hack, granted, but I think it satisfies your requirements.

edited Apr 06 '11 at 15:00

answered Apr 06 '11 at 14:21

Sasha Aickin

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Sorry, on my iPad in bed, so I didn't create a test case, but I tried the regex in regexpal.com to make sure it would match correctly. – Sasha Aickin Apr 06 '11 at 14:58
Oh wait, I didn't escape the forward slash in the regex; that may be the problem. Changed (although still not tested: still in bed!) – Sasha Aickin Apr 06 '11 at 14:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 06 '11 at 14:30

2

Because javascript doesn't support lookbehind assertion you can do something like:

var str = 'abc-def-xyz';
str = str.replace(/(<span class='blue'>)?-(<\/span>)?/g, function($0,$1,$2){ return $1?$0:"<span class='blue'>-</span>";});

output:

abc<span class='blue'>-</span>def<span class='blue'>-</span>xyz

even if you run it multiple times.

answered Apr 06 '11 at 14:30

Toto

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thanks, im on it solution right now, but it looks like hardcode, thought there is more elegant way. – Petya petrov Apr 06 '11 at 14:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 13:48

0

Maybe it is easier for you to use: http://codemirror.net/ and write a custom mode for your circumstance.

answered Apr 06 '11 at 13:48

Billy Moon

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 13:59

If I understood the question correctly, you want to run a certain regex replacement in a jQuery keyup event, but only for the first time. You can use one() for this, to have the event handler unbind after it is first called.

$(document).ready(function() {
    var $textarea = ...

    $('#somewhere').one('keyup', function() {
        $textarea.html($textarea.html().replace('-', "<span class='blue'>-</span>"));
    });
});

jsFiddle

exclude regex on the same part of string

4 Answers4