javascript regex match works but replace doesnt work

Question

I am trying to use regex replace with a regex I have. When I use the match method it returns the array with the proper index and match but when I use replace and add the replace string it wouldnt work.

var a = "$#,##0.00".match("[\\d+-,#;()\\.]+");
console.log(a);

Returns ["#,##0.00", index: 1, input: "$#,##0.00"] .

var b = "$#,##0.00".replace("[\\d+-,#;()\\.]+","");
console.log(b);

Returns $#,##0.00 whereas I expect it to return just the $

Can someone point out what am I doing incorrectly? Thanks Link to the example is:

 var a = "$#,##0.00".match("[\\\\d+-,#;()\\\\.]+"); console.log(a); var b = "$#,##0.00".replace("[\\\\d+-,#;()\\\\.]+",""); console.log(b); 

Answer 1

.match only accepts regexps. So if a string is provided .match will explicitly convert it to a regexp using new RegExp .

.replace however accepts both a string (which will be taken literally as the search) or a regexp, you have to pass in a regexp if you want it to use a regexp.

var b = "$#,##0.00".replace(new RegExp("[\\d+-,#;()\\.]+"), "");
//                          ^^^^^^^^^^^                  ^

or using a regexp literal:

var b = "$#,##0.00".replace(/[\d+-,#;()\.]+/, "");