string.replace does not work with regex

Question

I have this string dfdfd dsfsdfsdfsdf {{random.number}} dsfdsfsdfsdf {{bla}} and simple code that shold replace any {{...}} in a given string:

const b = template.replace(/\{{(.*)\}}/g, 'aaaa');

but nothing happened template.replace just does not work however the regex seems to be matching all {{}}

Any thougts?

UPDATE:

Just realized that my input string was wrong. Now I have all working with my original regex. However thanks to @Robo-Robok now I learned about greedy regexes and will be using his regex intstead.

Answer 1

Regular expressions are greedy by default. Your .* eats as much as it can, which includes the first }} pair.

Try this instead:

const b = template.replace(/\{\{.*?\}\}/g, 'aaaa');

Question mark after * , ? makes the match non-greedy.

Also two things:

1. It's better to escape all curly brackets. Your pattern will work well without escaping them, but it's a good idea to indicate that it's just a regular text.
2. Parentheses are redundant in your case, because you don't do anything with the catched string between curly braces.