Regular Expression 1

[east666]

Hi All,

I am wanting to search a string for the occurence of an expression, and then change the expression in the string.

I need to search for HTML entities, such as Beta(&beta, Trademark(&trade....etc

Once one has been found, I want to replace the beginning "&" with say "??" or something else I chose.

So, I need a function to search for say (&beta and return (??beta.

I know this uses regular expressions, but I am not to good on the syntax.

Please can anyone help.

Many Thanks.

 

[adam0101]

Try this:

function escapeEntities(str){
  return str.replace(/&([^;]+;)/g,"??$1");
}

Adam

http://adameslinger.blogspot.com/

 

[adam0101]

Actually, use this one instead. The first one might mess up if there is an ampersand in your string that is not part of an HTML entity.

function escapeEntities(str){
  return str.replace(/&([A-Za-z]+;)/g,"??$1");
}

Adam

http://adameslinger.blogspot.com/

 

[east666]

Thanks Adam.

I changed it slightly to be:

return str.replace(/&([A-Za-z]+/g,"??$1");

as it was picking up normal (&amp by themselves. So it works the way I expected. Do you think this is the right way to do it.

 

[adam0101]

Wait, so you want the & on all HTML entites except on the & HTML entity to be changed to "??". Is that correct? Can I ask why you would want to do this?

Adam

http://adameslinger.blogspot.com/

 

[east666]

Hi Adam,

Yes, you are correct in what you are saying. This is because basically we have a CMS that uses Microsofts DHTML Active X component for the Text Editor.

When I paste the relevant HTML entities into the editor, such as (&beta, and save it, the CMS copies the contents of the editor to a hidden form field, and through various xhtml filters before it gets saved. Unfortunately, this procedure cannot be changed, as it is in-built in our CMS, at the moment.

But it seems that when we automate the copy, via Javascript, from the editor, to the hidden form field (a simple "document.form.strtext.value = document.htmltext.DocumentHTML;" command), all instances of (&) are changed to (&amp. This is I feel a trait of the Active X editor, so I am trying to change all HTML Entities to something else, before I save them, then change them back when they are read out of the DB.

Maybe all very long winded, but I have it working perfectly, thanks again for your help. Do you have any other thoughts on getting around this?

 

[kaht]

Javascript has built this in for you already, in 2 easy commands:

<script type="text/javascript">
var a = "ab c d we $#@^@ &(*(*^%";
alert("original string: " + a);
var b = [!]escape[/!](a);
alert("escaped string: " + b);
var c = [!]unescape[/!](b);
alert("unescaped string: " + c);
</script>

Just escape the string before you save it to the database, and unescape it when you pull it out.

-kaht

http://www.silkypups.com

[small](All puppies have now found loving homes, thanks for all who showed interest)[/small]