Replace All Characters EXCEPT Whitespace in a String using JavaScript

Learn how to use JavaScript and regex to replace all characters in a string except whitespace with a new character. Easy step-by-step guide!
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Replace All Characters EXCEPT Whitespace in a String using JavaScript

The Problem

Imagine you have a simple string:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

You want to transform it so that every character except for whitespace is substituted with a # . The desired output would look like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This task can efficiently be accomplished using JavaScript's powerful regex capabilities.

Step 1: Understanding the Regex Pattern

To perform the replacement, we’ll use the regex pattern \S (which stands for "non-whitespace character"). This pattern matches any character that is not a whitespace character (spaces, tabs, etc.). The g modifier will ensure that the replacement is applied globally across the entire string.

Step 2: Implementing the Solution in JavaScript

Here’s how we can implement this in JavaScript:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation of the Code

var input: This is where you define the original string that you want to modify.

Step 3: Running the Code

When you run the code above, the console will display:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This demonstrates the effectiveness of our solution where all characters except whitespace have been replaced as intended.

Conclusion

By using the replace method with the regex pattern \S, you can easily substitute all characters in a string while preserving whitespace. This approach can be useful in various text processing tasks such as letter censorship, formatting text, and more. Feel free to experiment with different characters to replace and see how it alters your strings!

If you have any questions or need further assistance with string manipulations in JavaScript, feel free to ask in the comments below!