Why doesn't the javascript replace global flag work in Chrome or IE, and how to I work around it?

Question

According to the String.prototype.replace() page on MDN, I should be able to easily replace multiple patterns just by using

str.replace(\'what to replace\',          


        

Answer 1

It appears that webkit's implementation of string.replace perhaps doesn't have the 3rd parameter, as 'foo'.replace('o','i','g') results in fio for me.

The following appears to work however:

'foo'.replace(/o/gi,'i')

Another option is:

'foo'.replace(new RegExp('o', 'gi'),'i')

Answer 2

The very page you linked to mentions:

The use of the flags parameter in the String.replace method is non-standard. For cross-browser compatibility, use a RegExp object with corresponding flags.

Basically, it should only work on Firefox. As per the documentation, you can generate regexes dynamically using new RegExp:

var regex = new RegExp(variable, 'gi');
questionText = questionText.replace(regex, rep);

This will need variable to be escaped, however.

Answer 3

From Mozilla Developer Network - JavaScript - String - replace

Non-standard

The use of the flags parameter in the String.replace method is non-standard. For cross-browser compatibility, use a RegExp object with corresponding flags.

Working in Chrome and Firefox

To get your code to work in Chrome and Firefox, you'll have to create a RegExp object (since your strings aren't hardcoded) with the appropriate flags. See Mozilla Developer Network - RegExp