I have a string like this
|1.774|1.78|1|||||1.781|1||||||||
I applied a replace expression
str = str.replace(/\|\|/g, '| |')
Output result is
|1.774|1.78|1| || ||1.781|1| || || || |
but the result must be like
|1.774|1.78|1| | | | |1.781|1| | | | | | | |
Where is the error? Thanks
You need to use a lookahead here to check for a | after a |:
str = str.replace(/\|(?=\|)/g, '| ')
See the regex demo
Details
\| - a literal |(?=\|) - a positive lookahead that matches but does not consume the next | char, thus keeping it outside of the match and this char is still available to be matched during the next iteration.
Just for fun, instead of using a regular expression you can use the following javascript function:
let original = '|1.774|1.78|1|||||1.781|1||||||||';
let str = original.split('|').map((e, i, arr) => {
// 1) if the element is not on the end of the split array...
// 2) and if element is empty ('')
// -> there's no data between '|' chars, so convert from empty string to space (' ')
if (i > 0 && i < arr.length -1 && e === '') return ' ';
// otherwise return original '|' if there is data found OR if element is on the end
// -> of the split array
else return e
}).join('|')
Wiktor's regex is quite beautiful, but I just thought I'd offer a plain JS version.
