0
# lodash.escaperegexp
1
2
Escapes RegExp special characters in strings, enabling safe use of user input or dynamic content within regular expressions. This modular export from the lodash library allows you to include only the escapeRegExp functionality without the entire lodash dependency.
3
4
## Package Information
5
6
- **Package Name**: lodash.escaperegexp
7
- **Package Type**: npm
8
- **Language**: JavaScript
9
- **Installation**: `npm install lodash.escaperegexp`
10
11
## Core Imports
12
13
```javascript
14
const escapeRegExp = require('lodash.escaperegexp');
15
```
16
17
## Basic Usage
18
19
```javascript
20
const escapeRegExp = require('lodash.escaperegexp');
21
22
// Escape special characters for safe RegExp construction
23
const userInput = '[lodash](https://lodash.com/)';
24
const escaped = escapeRegExp(userInput);
25
console.log(escaped);
26
// => '\\[lodash\\]\\(https://lodash\\.com/\\)'
27
28
// Use escaped string in RegExp
29
const regex = new RegExp(escaped);
30
const text = 'Check out [lodash](https://lodash.com/) for utilities!';
31
console.log(regex.test(text)); // => true
32
33
// Safe search and replace
34
const searchTerm = '*.js';
35
const escapedTerm = escapeRegExp(searchTerm);
36
const pattern = new RegExp(escapedTerm, 'g');
37
const filename = 'my-script*.js matches *.js pattern';
38
console.log(filename.replace(pattern, 'REDACTED'));
39
// => 'my-script REDACTED matches REDACTED pattern'
40
```
41
42
## Capabilities
43
44
### String Escaping
45
46
Escapes all RegExp special characters in a string for safe dynamic regular expression construction.
47
48
```javascript { .api }
49
/**
50
* Escapes the RegExp special characters "^", "$", "\\", ".", "*", "+",
51
* "?", "(", ")", "[", "]", "{", "}", and "|" in string.
52
*
53
* @param {string} [string=''] The string to escape.
54
* @returns {string} Returns the escaped string.
55
*/
56
function escapeRegExp(string)
57
```
58
59
**Parameters:**
60
- `string` (string, optional): The string to escape. Defaults to empty string if not provided.
61
62
**Returns:**
63
- (string): The escaped string with all RegExp special characters prefixed with backslashes.
64
65
**Special Character Handling:**
66
The function escapes these RegExp special characters:
67
- `^` → `\\^` (caret)
68
- `$` → `\\$` (dollar)
69
- `\\` → `\\\\` (backslash)
70
- `.` → `\\.` (dot)
71
- `*` → `\\*` (asterisk)
72
- `+` → `\\+` (plus)
73
- `?` → `\\?` (question mark)
74
- `(` → `\\(` (left parenthesis)
75
- `)` → `\\)` (right parenthesis)
76
- `[` → `\\[` (left square bracket)
77
- `]` → `\\]` (right square bracket)
78
- `{` → `\\{` (left curly brace)
79
- `}` → `\\}` (right curly brace)
80
- `|` → `\\|` (pipe)
81
82
**Type Handling:**
83
- **Null/undefined**: Returns empty string
84
- **Symbols**: Converts to string representation
85
- **Numbers**: Converts to string (preserves sign of -0)
86
- **Other types**: Converts to string via implicit coercion
87
88
**Usage Examples:**
89
90
```javascript
91
// Basic escaping
92
escapeRegExp('hello.world');
93
// => 'hello\\.world'
94
95
// Multiple special characters
96
escapeRegExp('(test)*+?');
97
// => '\\(test\\)\\*\\+\\?'
98
99
// Null/undefined handling
100
escapeRegExp(null);
101
// => ''
102
103
escapeRegExp(undefined);
104
// => ''
105
106
// Empty string
107
escapeRegExp('');
108
// => ''
109
110
// Numbers
111
escapeRegExp(123);
112
// => '123'
113
114
// Preserves -0 sign
115
escapeRegExp(-0);
116
// => '-0'
117
118
// Complex patterns
119
escapeRegExp('[a-z]+\\.(js|ts)$');
120
// => '\\[a-z\\]\\+\\\\\\.(js\\|ts\\)\\$'
121
```