Javascript regex to convert ruby hash syntax from 1.8 to 1.9

Question

Greetings I am trying to convert Ruby hashes from the old 1.8 style using AngularJS with a regex

{ :name => "james" }

to the newer 1.9 syntax

{ name: 'james' }

I am attempting to do this in Angular JS

with the following segment

 $scope.$watch("rubyText", function( newValue ) {
   var newVal= newValue.replace(
      new RegExp( "([\w\d_]+)(\s*)=>/\1:", "g" ),
      newValue
   );
   $scope.rubyTextConverted = newVal;   
 }

I have limited JS regex experience and would like some advice on the regular expression

Thanks

Answer 1

You may have to account for some edge cases like formatting, whitespace and such (unless it's scrubbed through ruby first). But to get you started here is a very basic version. You would have to add in support for Arrays and numbers and underscores. { key: [] }

var regex = /:(\w*)\s?(=>)\s?("\w*")/gi;
var string = '{ :name => "james", :lastname => "rogers" }';

string.replace(regex, "$1: $3");
 //=> '{ name: "james", lastname: "rogers" }'

Read up on back references in regex: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/RegExp#grouping-back-references