(Multiple) Replace string with array [duplicate]

Question

This question already has answers here:

Replace multiple strings at once (19 answers)

Closed 8 years ago.

I have a large string which need be replaced a few times. Such as

var str="Username:[UN] Location:[LC] Age:[AG] ... "
str=str.replace("[UN]","Ali")
str=str.replace("[LC]","Turkey")
str=str.replace("[AG]","29")
...
//lots of replace
...

Is there a way to put those FIND and REPLACE parameters to an array, and replace all of them at once? Such as:

reps = [["UN","Ali"], ["LC","Turkey"], ["AG","29"], ...]
$(str).replace(reps)

• Nicolas Filotto: @KrzysztofSafjanowski it should be the other way around since this one is older than your duplicate proposal

Answer 1

No jQuery is required.

var reps = {
 UN: "Ali",
 LC: "Turkey",
 AG: "29",
 ...
};
return str.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, function(s, key) {
 return reps[key] || s;
});

• The regex /\[(\w+)\]/g finds all substrings of the form [XYZ].
• Whenever such a pattern is found, the function in the 2nd parameter of .replace will be called to get the replacement.
• It will search the associative array and try to return that replacement if the key exists (reps[key]).
• Otherwise, the original substring (s) will be returned, i.e. nothing is replaced. (See In Javascript, what does it mean when there is a logical operator in a variable declaration? for how || makes this work.)

• T.J. Crowder: +1, although: This assumes the replacement will never be an empty string. @user: If sometimes the replacements are empty strings, change the body of the function to var rep = reps[key]; return typeof rep === "undefined" ? s : rep;
• DevonDahon: Just tried it in Chrome's console, it doesn't work. var reps = { UN: "Ali", LC: "Turkey", AG: "29" };, then var str = "hello UN, I'm in LC, AG", and finally str.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, function(s, key) { return reps[key] || s; }); returns the inital string, without any replacement.
• kennytm: @maxagaz Please check OP's question, the str is var str = "Username:[UN] Location:[LC] Age:[AG]". There are brackets around the UN, LC and AG.

Answer 2

You can do:

var array = {"UN":"ALI", "LC":"Turkey", "AG":"29"};
for (var val in array) {
 str = str.split(val).join(array[val]);
}