Tell me more ×
Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite 
 function helpLinkConvert(str, p1, offset, s)  {  
      return "<a href=\"look.php?word="
               +encodeURIComponent(p1)+"\">"+p1+"</a>";
     }

var message = "(look: this) is a (look: stackoverflow) question";
message = message .replace(/\(look: (.{1,80})\)/, helpLinkConvert);

This is what I want to do,

Before:

(look: this) is a (look: stackoverflow) question.

After:

this is a stackoverflow question

When there is only one matched string, it's working but in other cases It's not working properly,

How can I do that? Thanks.

share|improve this question

2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

You need to add the global g modifier , and a non-greedy match so the regular expression finds all matches:

/\(look: (.{1,80}?)\)/g

In your code:

function helpLinkConvert(str, p1, offset, s) {  
    return "<a href=\"look.php?word="+encodeURIComponent(p1)+"\">"+p1+"</a>";
}

var message = "(look: this) is a (look: stackoverflow) question";
message = message.replace(/\(look: (.{1,80}?)\)/g, helpLinkConvert);

Outputs:

"<a href="look.php?word=this">this</a> is a <a href="look.php?word=stackoverflow">stackoverflow</a> question"

share|improve this answer
2  
+1 for including the non-greedy modifier. – Kolink Dec 10 '11 at 19:40
Or better yet, instead of: .{1,80}? use: [^)]{1,80} – ridgerunner Dec 10 '11 at 20:07
up vote 2 down vote

Use the g flag:

message .replace(/\(look: (.{1,80})\)/g, helpLinkConvert);

The g (stands for "global") will match against all occurrences of the pattern on this string, instead of just the first one.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.