Swapping characters from the beginning and end of a specific string

Question

Swapping characters from the beginning and end of a specific string

Consider the following scenario:

b*any string here*

If this pattern is present, I would like to substitute b* at the beginning with <b>, and the * at the end with </b> (Ignore the backslash for SO site escaping).

It's possible that there are multiple occurrences:

b*any string here* and then b*string b*.

However, these cases should not be addressed:

b*foo bar
foo bar*
bb*foo bar* (b does not follow a space or start of string).

Here is what I have so far:

(?<=b\*)(.*?)(?=\*)

While this provides the text between, I am encountering challenges in making the replacement.

javascript regex

Answer 1

Answer №1

To maintain specific text in a string, utilize the String#replace method with proper text capturing:

var result = theString.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>");

In the regex pattern, the use of \b signifies a word boundary, ensuring that only standalone instances of b are matched. The expression $1 represents the first captured group (.*?).

For example:

var str1 = "b*any string here* and after that b*string b*.";

var str2 = `b*foo bar
foo bar*
bb*foo bar* (b is not after a whitespace or beginning of string).`;

console.log(str1.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>"));

console.log(str2.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>"));

Answer 2

To maintain specific text in a string, utilize the String#replace method with proper text capturing:

var result = theString.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>");

In the regex pattern, the use of \b signifies a word boundary, ensuring that only standalone instances of b are matched. The expression $1 represents the first captured group (.*?).

For example:

var str1 = "b*any string here* and after that b*string b*.";

var str2 = `b*foo bar
foo bar*
bb*foo bar* (b is not after a whitespace or beginning of string).`;

console.log(str1.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>"));

console.log(str2.replace(/\bb\*(.*?)\*/g, "<b>$1</b>"));

Answer 3

Answer №2

If you want to highlight text wrapped in asterisks using a regular expression, you can do so with \b(?:\*)(.+?)(?:\*).

const highlightedText = yourString.replace(/\b(?:\*)(.+?)(?:\*)/, "<b>$1</b>");

To see this in action, check out the 'Replace' tab at https://regex101.com/.

Answer 4

If you want to highlight text wrapped in asterisks using a regular expression, you can do so with \b(?:\*)(.+?)(?:\*).

const highlightedText = yourString.replace(/\b(?:\*)(.+?)(?:\*)/, "<b>$1</b>");

To see this in action, check out the 'Replace' tab at https://regex101.com/.

Swapping characters from the beginning and end of a specific string

Answer №1

Answer №2

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