I have a string like this

This is\' it

I would like it to look like this

This is' it

Nothing I do seems to work

> "This is\' it".replace(/\\'/,"'");
'This is\' it'
> "This is\' it".replace("'",/\\'/);
'This is/\\\\\'/ it'
> "This is\' it".replace("\'","'");
'This is\' it'
> "This is\' it".replace("'","\'");
'This is\' it'

UPDATE: This is a little hard to wrap my head around but I had my example string inside an array something like.

> ["hello world's"]
[ 'hello world\'s' ]

It automatically happens like so:

> var a = ["hello world's"]
undefined
> a
[ 'hello world\'s' ]
> a[0]
'hello world\'s'
> console.log(a[0])
hello world's
undefined
> console.log(a)
[ 'hello world\'s' ]
undefined
> 

I have a string like this

This is\' it

I would like it to look like this

This is' it

Nothing I do seems to work

> "This is\' it".replace(/\\'/,"'");
'This is\' it'
> "This is\' it".replace("'",/\\'/);
'This is/\\\\\'/ it'
> "This is\' it".replace("\'","'");
'This is\' it'
> "This is\' it".replace("'","\'");
'This is\' it'

UPDATE: This is a little hard to wrap my head around but I had my example string inside an array something like.

> ["hello world's"]
[ 'hello world\'s' ]

It automatically happens like so:

> var a = ["hello world's"]
undefined
> a
[ 'hello world\'s' ]
> a[0]
'hello world\'s'
> console.log(a[0])
hello world's
undefined
> console.log(a)
[ 'hello world\'s' ]
undefined
> 

• javascript

Share Improve this question Follow edited Sep 5, 2012 at 22:34 ThomasReggi asked Sep 5, 2012 at 22:19 ThomasReggiThomasReggi 59.6k9797 gold badges258258 silver badges459459 bronze badges 1

• 6 console.log("This is\' it") returns This is' it for me. – Blender Commented Sep 5, 2012 at 22:21

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3 Answers 3

Sorted by: Reset to default 7

None of your test strings actually contain backslashes. The string you are inputting each time is: This is' it because the backslash escapes the single quote.

Your first (regex-based) solution is almost perfect, just missing the global modifier /\\'/g to replace all matches, not just the first. To see this in action, try the following:

> "This is\\' it"
"This is\' it"
> "This is\\' it".replace(/\\'/g,"'");
"This is' it"

Give this a shot:

"This is\' it".replace(/\\(.?)/g, function (s, n1) {
    switch (n1) {
    case '\\':
        return '\\';
    case '0':
        return '\u0000';
    case '':
        return '';
    default:
        return n1;
    });

Taken from http://phpjs/functions/stripslashes:537

I think the first option in your question works. When you mention it as a string in JavaScript, you need to escape the \ so that it is read as a string rather than a special character. Check this jsFiddle : http://jsfiddle/T7Du4/2/