Javascript Replace with Global not working on Caret Symbol

Question

i have following code for replacing

 var temp =  \"^hall^,^restaurant^\";
 temp.replace(/^/g, \'\');
 console.log(temp);

This does not Replace

Answer 1

 temp = temp.replace(/\^/g, '');

It is replacing once you escape the caret.

https://jsfiddle.net/ym7tt1L8/

And note that just writing temp.replace(/\^/g, ''); doesn't update your actual string. That is the reason you have to write

 temp = temp.replace(/\^/g, '');

Answer 2

In RegEx, the caret symbol is a recognized as a special character. It means the beginning of a string.

Additionally, replace returns the new value, it does not perform the operation in place, youneed to create a new variable.

For your case, you have to do one of the following:

var temp =  "^hall^,^restaurant^";
var newString = temp.replace(/\^/g, ''); // Escape the caret

Or simply replace the character without using RegEx at all:

var temp =  "^hall^,^restaurant^";
while (temp.indexOf('^') >= 0) {
    temp = temp.replace('^', '');
}

Alternative version:

var temp =  "^hall^,^restaurant^";
var newString = temp.split('^').join('');