How to replace Javascript multiline comments with text in middle using regex

Question

I am trying to replace a two multiline comments (on a single line) with javascript text in the middle. I am using a build tool, which reads the entire file, and need to replace a specific string (made up of comments) during the build.

Example:

var data = /*testThisDelete:start*/new Date();/*testThisDelete:end*/

Once replaced, should used like this

var data = 4.6.88

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:04:49Z

2

Try something like this to get started:

"your file as a string".replace(new RegExp('/\*testThisDelete\:start.*testThisDelete\:end\*/','m'), '"replacement text"');

See this post for a lot of useful additional info: JavaScript replace/regex

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:04

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 13, 2013 at 2:37

kufudo

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1 Comment

vernak2539 Over a year ago

Thank you, this was exactly what I was looking for. For some reason I couldn't figure out how to escape everything. Regex drives me crazy, but I know I need to get better at it

Plynx · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-13 02:34:51Z

2

Are you looking for:

^.+?(\/\*testThisDelete:start\*\/.+?\/\*testThisDelete:end\*\/)$

With this you should just be able to replace the first matched substring with what you want.

enter image description here

answered Feb 13, 2013 at 2:34

Plynx

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2 Comments

vernak2539 Over a year ago

I tried this and it worked once I deleted the $ sign at the end and the "^.+?" at the beginning. Why is that stuff at the beginning? Excuse my lack of knowledge in Regex. I know the $ means end of line. I remember being on a site that created that image you put below, but can't remember. Could you let me know?

Plynx Over a year ago

@Vernacchia Those indicate the beginning and end of a line. But you need to remember to pass the m (multiline) option at the end of your regular expression literal so that they match line breaks. (If you're new to regular expressions, you also might not know to pass the g option, or it only replaces the first match). Regular expressions go inside slashes /.../ and the options go at the end: /.../gm

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