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JavaScript compile() Method

RegExp Object Reference JavaScript RegExp Object

Definition and Usage

The compile() method is used to compile a regular expression during execution of a script.

The compile() method can also be used to change and recompile a regular expression.

Syntax

RegExpObject.compile(regexp,modifier)

Parameter Description
regexp The regular expression
modifier Specifies the type of matching. "g" for a global match, "i" for a case-insensitive match and "gi" for a global, case-insensitive match

Example

Example

Do a global search for "man" in a string, and replace it with "person". Then change the regular expression and replace either "man" or "woman" with "person", with the compile() method:

<script type="text/javascript">

var str="Every man in the world! Every woman on earth!";
patt=/man/g;
str2=str.replace(patt,"person");
document.write(str2+"<br />");
patt=/(wo)?man/g;
patt.compile(patt);
str2=str.replace(patt,"person");
document.write(str2);

</script>

The output of the code above will be:

Every person in the world! Every woperson on earth!
Every person in the world! Every person on earth!

Try it yourself »

RegExp Object Reference JavaScript RegExp Object

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)