运行所有出现在方括号中的字符串中的内容的函数

Question

I have a string. The data is from a text area and contains occurrences of (varying) content enclosed in square brackets.

I would like to run functions (eg replace) on the string content that is enclosed in square brackets, then update the original string to reflect the changes made.

Example

not this [potentially act on this token] not this [potentially act on this token] not this

I think some of the following may be involved but I can't figure out how to implement a working solution. I wouldn't like to use jQuery or external libraries.

• Match + RegEx Something like this .
• indexOf. Possibly to get the content of the match if it can't be done with RegEx alone.
• For each. As there are numerous instances of content enclosed in square brackets.

Here's a starting point JSFiddle .

If anyone could be of any assistance, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Answer 1

Try something like this ...

var startEnd = user_input.match( /(\[.*?\])/g );

startend is now an array of the bracketed values that you can now use for search/replace.

Answer 2

So your jsfiidle has pretty much all you need, except that the replace function can take a callback. This callback receives one parameter which is the matched string and whatever you return is substituted for the match

user_input = user_input.replace(/\[.*\]/gi,function(match){
    return match + "foo";   
});

http://jsfiddle.net/fdtxvyo7/6/