Regex: How to regex the following expression

Question

I have a text message and I want to parse the special characters in it. I have the list of special characters. I wrote the following regex but this shows compile time error. Looks like there is something with escape characters, but i'm not able to figure out.

This is the character list, i want to replace, without the quotes "<3","<\/3",";p","C:","c:",":D",":-D",":/",":-/",":o",":-o",":p",":-p",":P",":-‌P",":b",":-b",";-p",";b",";-b",";P",";-P","D:",":->",":>",":)",":-)","(:",";)",";‌-)",":sj:","):",":(",":-(",":'(","=)","=-)",">:(",">:-(","8)",":\\\\",":-\\\\",":*",":-‌*",":|",":-|"

return msg.replace(/(<3|<\/3|;p|C:|c:|:D|:-D|:/|:-/|:o|:-o|:p|:-p|:P|:-P|:b|:-b|;-p|;b|;-b|;P|;-P|D:|:->|:>|:)|:-)|(:|;)|;-)|:sj:|):|:(|:-(|:'(|=)|=-)|>:(|>:-(|8)|:\\\\|:-\\\\|:*|:-*|:||:-|)/g, function myFunction(x){
  console.log(x);
  return x;
}

Unexpected token (105:52)

is it the complete example code ? if not do share, and also paste the error / exception traceback — Nabeel Ahmed, Jun 22 '16 at 07:13
No sense in fighting with escaping if you can do it more simply. Keep your special strings in an array, and build the regex dynamically using the `escapeRegExp` function found in [Escape string for use in Javascript regex](http://stackoverflow.com/a/6969486/6263819). You can easily map each special string with the `escapeRegExp` and then join all of the escaped strings with `.join("|")` to get a properly constructed regexp. It'll keep your list of strings in an easy to maintain state, in case you want to add more. — Michael Gaskill, Jun 27 '16 at 03:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 22 '16 at 10:43

1

You haven't escaped special meta characters in your regex like (, ), / etc.

You can also shorten your regex substantially using character classes and optional matches.

I've reduced it to:

return msg.replace (
   /<\/?3|[cCD()]:|:-?[\/DopPb)>()|]|;-?[pbP)]|:-?\\\\|:sj:|:'\(|=-?\)|>:-?\(|8\)/g,
    function myFunction(x) {
       // ....
    }
)

edited Jun 22 '16 at 10:43

iamsaksham

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answered Jun 22 '16 at 07:25

anubhava

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Thanks for shortening it for me. Can you please explain how you shortened it for others who might read it. – iamsaksham Jun 22 '16 at 07:35
Yes that's what I wrote in answer *shorten your regex substantially using character classes and optional matches* – anubhava Jun 22 '16 at 07:35
Hey, shortening it makes weak, It satisfies as soon as i press `:`, but i want it to satisfy only when its `:)` like so. Maybe some edit can do it – iamsaksham Jun 22 '16 at 07:46
its `:|'. Wait I'll share the list. I knw its confusing – iamsaksham Jun 22 '16 at 07:49
Edited the question – iamsaksham Jun 22 '16 at 08:02
Have you tried my updated regex? What's the problem now? – anubhava Jun 22 '16 at 08:31
1

`<3` aint working. Checking for more – iamsaksham Jun 22 '16 at 08:59
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/115283/discussion-between-anubhava-and-iamsaksham). – anubhava Jun 22 '16 at 09:10

Regex: How to regex the following expression

1 Answers1