Substitute the gaps except for those within parentheses

Question

Substitute the gaps except for those within parentheses

I am exploring the idea of using multiple regex patterns to achieve my goal easily. Essentially, I am looking to replace all spaces in a string except for the ones that are enclosed within parentheses.

Let's consider an example:

Here is a string (that I want to) replace spaces in.

After applying the regex pattern, I expect the updated string to look like this:

Hereisastring(that I want to)replacespacesin.

Would it be possible to accomplish this using lookahead or lookbehind operators? I'm not entirely certain about how they function and whether they would suit this particular scenario.

javascript regex

Answer 1

Answer №1

Here's a solution for you:

replace(/\s+(?=[^()]*(\(|$))/g, '')

Let me break it down for you:

\s+          # matches one or more white-space characters
(?=          # positive look ahead
  [^()]*     # zero or more characters that are not '(' and ')'
  (          # group 1 starts
    \(       # either a '('
    |        # OR
    $        # the end of input
  )          # group 1 ends
)            # end of positive look ahead

To put it simply: this regex will remove any white space characters if there is a '(' or the end of the input ahead without encountering any parentheses in between.

You can test this with an online demo on Ideone: http://ideone.com/jaljw

Please note that this solution may not work if:

there are nested parentheses
parentheses are escaped

Answer 2

Here's a solution for you:

replace(/\s+(?=[^()]*(\(|$))/g, '')

Let me break it down for you:

\s+          # matches one or more white-space characters
(?=          # positive look ahead
  [^()]*     # zero or more characters that are not '(' and ')'
  (          # group 1 starts
    \(       # either a '('
    |        # OR
    $        # the end of input
  )          # group 1 ends
)            # end of positive look ahead

To put it simply: this regex will remove any white space characters if there is a '(' or the end of the input ahead without encountering any parentheses in between.

You can test this with an online demo on Ideone: http://ideone.com/jaljw

Please note that this solution may not work if:

there are nested parentheses
parentheses are escaped

Substitute the gaps except for those within parentheses

Answer №1

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