Regular expression should not be wrapped as a string at String.prototype.replace()

• BAD_REGEXP_LITERAL_IN_STRING
• Error
• Medium
• No tags

This rule applies when a regular expression literal is wrapped as a string at the first argument of String.prototype.replace().

String.prototype.replace() accepts string or regular expression as the first argument. String argument is searched verbatim whereas matching pattern is searched for regular expression argument.

When a regular expression literal is wrapped with quotes like '/\s+/g', it will be recognized as a string argument and searched literally. This is not likely to be a programmer's intent.

This rule also applies to the analogous String.prototype.split().

Noncompliant Code Example

foo = foo.replace('/\s+/g', '_'); // BAD_REGEXP_LITERAL_IN_STRING alarm because quotes are used.

Compliant Code Example

foo = foo.replace(/\s+/g, '_');

Version

This rule was introduced in DeepScan 1.30.0.

See

• Regular Expressions

• String.prototype.replace()

• String.prototype.split()