Use RegEx in Google Doc Apps Script to Replace Text

Question

There is a line in a Google Doc that has a time and date stamp. I have written the following code using a regex to replace that line with the current time/date, but I am not sure why this isn't working.

function UpdateDate() {

  var document = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
  var date = new Date();

  var regExp = /[0-9]{1,2}:[0-9]{2} [A-Z]{2} [A-Za-z]* [0-9]{1,2}, [0-9]{4}/;
  document.replaceText(regExp, Utilities.formatDate(date, 'America/Denver', 'h:mm a MMMM dd, yyyy'));

}

If I replace the "regExp" in the document.replaceText line with, for example, "3:43 PM January 22, 2019", the code correctly replaces that with the updated date/time, but it is not able to replace the matched regex. Any ideas? Thanks!

Use var regExp = "[0-9]{1,2}:[0-9]{2} [A-Z]{2} [A-Za-z]* [0-9]{1,2}, [0-9]{4}";, pass the regex pattern with a string literal. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Jan 23, 2019 at 18:41

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

3

You should pass the regex with the help of a string literal:

var regExp = "[0-9]{1,2}:[0-9]{2} [A-Z]{2} [A-Za-z]* [0-9]{1,2}, [0-9]{4}";

The replaceText documentation explains it:

The search pattern is passed as a string, not a JavaScript regular expression object. Because of this you'll need to escape any backslashes in the pattern.

This methods uses Google's RE2 regular expression library, which limits the supported syntax.

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

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answered Jan 23, 2019 at 19:00

Wiktor Stribiżew

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1 Comment

hunter21188 Over a year ago

Awesome. Thank you for answer and supporting documentation!

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