Javascript replace “ ' ” with “ '' ”

Question

I'm trying to replace the "'" character with the "''" string using the replace method, like this:

temp.replace("\'", "''");

but it seems that it is not replacing anything. how should I write the command in order to replace the wanted character with the wanted string (I'm trying to replace it in the next xml):

<Module ForceTabs="1">
    <Events>
        <Event Value="onafter_moduleinit_beforedraw()" Type="onafter_moduleinit_beforedraw"/>
    </Events>
    <Section Id="Header" Type="header" Caption="Header" ContainerCSS="background:#C1E0F4;border-bottom:2px groove;margin-bottom:3px;padding:10 3 3 3">
        <Containers>
            <Form Id="Header" Caption="General Details" Source="Request" Layout="Fixed">
                <Layout>
                    <table cellaspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
                        <tr>
                            <td>
                                <ControlRef Id="Origin" ShowCaption="1"/>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <ControlRef Id="Type" ShowCaption="1"/>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <ControlRef Id="Process" ShowCaption="1"/>
                            </td>
                            <td width="20" align="center">
                                <span class="separator"/>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <ControlRef Id="FindBy" ShowCaption="1"/>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <ControlRef Id="Find"/>
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <button width="30" onclick="doFindCustomer()">
                                    <Caption Caption="GO"/>
                                </button>
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                    </table>
                </Layout>
                <Controls>
                    <Control Id="Origin" Caption="Origin" FieldName="Origin" DataType="string" Width="90" CaptionWidth="70" ReadOnly="1" Mandatory="1" Hidden="1"/>
                    <Control Id="Type" Caption="Type" FieldName="Type" DataType="select" Width="60" CaptionWidth="40" ReadOnly="1" Mandatory="1" DefaultValue="Service" Hidden="1">
                        <Member Value="Allert" Caption="Allert"/>
                        <Member Value="Service" Caption="Service"/>
                        <Member Value="Marketing" Caption="Marketing"/>
                    </Control>
                    <Control Id="Process" Caption="Process" FieldName="Process" DataType="string" Width="90" CaptionWidth="70" ReadOnly="1" Mandatory="1" Hidden="1"/>
                    <Control Id="FindBy" Caption="Find:" VCaption="Find By" FieldName="FindBy" DataType="select" Width="90" CaptionWidth="50" ReadOnly="0" Mandatory="0" CaptionCSS="font-weight:bold" DefaultValue="IMTSI">
                        <Member Value="IMTSI" Caption="IMTSI"/>
                        <Member Value="ID" Caption="ID"/>
                    </Control>
                    <Control Id="Find" Caption="Find Value" FieldName="Find" DataType="string" Width="90" CaptionWidth="60" ReadOnly="0" Mandatory="0" CaptionCSS="font-weight:bold"/>
                </Controls>
            </Form>
        </Containers>
    </Section>
    <Section Id="1" Type="page" Caption="Message Details">
        <Containers>
            <Form Id="General" Caption="General Details" Source="Request" Layout="Fixed">
                <Controls>
                    <Control Id="MessageType" Caption="Message Type" Source="Param[@Name = 'MessageType']" FieldName="Value" DataType="select" Width="150" CaptionWidth="120" ReadOnly="1" Mandatory="1" DefaultValue="Allert" Action="handleMessageTypeChange()" BreakAfter="0">
                        <Member Value="SMS" Caption="SMS"/>
                        <Member Value="EMAIL" Caption="EMAIL"/>
                        <Member Value="ATOS" Caption="ATOS"/>
                        <Member Value="SELF SERVICE" Caption="SELF SERVICE"/>
                    </Control>
                    <Control Id="Language" Caption="Language" Source="Param[@Name = 'Language']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="100" CaptionWidth="90" ReadOnly="1" BreakAfter="1"/>
                    <Control Id="FirstName" Caption="First Name" Source="Param[@Name = 'FirstName']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1"/>
                    <Control Id="LastName" Caption="Last Name" Source="Param[@Name = 'LastName']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1"/>
                    <Control Id="IMTSI" Caption="IMTSI" Source="Param[@Name = 'IMTSI']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1" Mandatory="0"/>
                    <Control Id="Mobile" Caption="Mobile" Source="Param[@Name = 'Mobile']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1" Mandatory="1"/>
                    <Control Id="Email" Caption="Email" Source="Param[@Name = 'Email']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1" Mandatory="0"/>
                    <Control Id="Subject" Caption="Subject" Source="Param[@Name = 'Subject']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1" MaxLen="40" Hidden="1"/>
                    <Control Id="Content" Caption="Content" Source="Param[@Name = 'Content']" FieldName="Value" DataType="longstring" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" Height="60" BreakAfter="1" MaxLen="50" Mandatory="1" SeparateBefore="1" SeparateAfter="1"/>
                    <Control Id="Sender" Caption="Sender" Source="Param[@Name = 'Sender']" FieldName="Value" DataType="string" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" ReadOnly="1" BreakAfter="1"/>
                    <Control Id="Priority" Caption="Priority" Source="Param[@Name = 'Priority']" FieldName="Value" DataType="select" Width="350" CaptionWidth="120" BreakAfter="1" DefaultValue="LOW">
                        <Member Value="LOW" Caption="Low" Glyf="../../GUIGenerator_V2/assets/themes/Images/flag_blue.png"/>
                        <Member Value="MED" Caption="Medium" Glyf="../../GUIGenerator_V2/assets/themes/Images/flag_yellow.png"/>
                        <Member Value="HIGH" Caption="High" Glyf="../../GUIGenerator_V2/assets/themes/Images/flag_red.png"/>
                    </Control>
                </Controls>
            </Form>
        </Containers>
    </Section>
</Module>

I must replace the single to two singles i can't change it to " but to ''

Answer 1

while (str.indexOf("'") >= 0)
    {
        var newStr = str.replace("'", "\"");
        str = newStr;
    }

Answer 2

Your code just replaces a single instance (the first one it finds). You should replace all instances. You can do this by using a regular expression and adding a g flag to the end meaning "global search". Like this:

temp.replace(/'/g, "''")

Here's a working example: http://jsfiddle.net/Q2Uyv/ (type something into the "In" box and click "Convert").

If you are actually trying to replace single quotes with double quotes (instead of doubled sequence of single quotes), do this:

temp.replace(/'/g, '"')

Answer 3

The problem is that

temp.replace("\'", "''");

will only replace the first instance of '. To fix this, do the following instead

temp.replace(/'/g, "''"));

This will ensure it goes though and replaces all instances of the single quote instead of just the first.

Answer 4

You're actually trying to replace (\'), not just the single quote character. There is no need to escape a single quote in a string delimited by double quotes, because they don't signify the end of a string...

Replace will only replace the first quote matched, unless you're using our old friend Regexp. The downside being Regular Expressions tend to be slow. I haven't checked to see which is faster, but you could try using split:

var chunks = temp.split("'").join("''");

test = "string cont'aining single 'quotes".split("'").join("''");//in firebug console
//returns "string cont''aining single ''quotes" as expected

Answer 5

The trick is quoting each string with the other quote character:

temp.replace(/'/g, '"');

Edit: Ben Lee is correct about the regex, updated above. However, I still gather it that you want to replace with " (one double quote), not '' (two single quotes).

Answer 6

Have you simply tried this?

temp.replace("'", "''");

Answer 7

So it's basically changing the single quote character with 2 single quote characters, right? If that's the case you might wanna use the global flag, g at the end of yoir Regular Expression and assing it back to your value (temp)

temp = temp.replace(/'/g,"''");