JavaScript: replace last occurrence of text in a string

Question

Well, if the string really ends with the pattern, you could do this:

str = str.replace(new RegExp(list[i] + '$'), 'finish');

You can use String#lastIndexOf to find the last occurrence of the word, and then String#substring and concatenation to build the replacement string.

n = str.lastIndexOf(list[i]);
if (n >= 0 && n + list[i].length >= str.length) {
    str = str.substring(0, n) + "finish";
}

...or along those lines.

I know this is silly, but I'm feeling creative this morning:

'one two, one three, one four, one'
.split(' ') // array: ["one", "two,", "one", "three,", "one", "four,", "one"]
.reverse() // array: ["one", "four,", "one", "three,", "one", "two,", "one"]
.join(' ') // string: "one four, one three, one two, one"
.replace(/one/, 'finish') // string: "finish four, one three, one two, one"
.split(' ') // array: ["finish", "four,", "one", "three,", "one", "two,", "one"]
.reverse() // array: ["one", "two,", "one", "three,", "one", "four,", "finish"]
.join(' '); // final string: "one two, one three, one four, finish"

So really, all you'd need to do is add this function to the String prototype:

String.prototype.replaceLast = function (what, replacement) {
    return this.split(' ').reverse().join(' ').replace(new RegExp(what), replacement).split(' ').reverse().join(' ');
};

Then run it like so: str = str.replaceLast('one', 'finish');

One limitation you should know is that, since the function is splitting by space, you probably can't find/replace anything with a space.

Actually, now that I think of it, you could get around the 'space' problem by splitting with an empty token.

String.prototype.reverse = function () {
    return this.split('').reverse().join('');
};

String.prototype.replaceLast = function (what, replacement) {
    return this.reverse().replace(new RegExp(what.reverse()), replacement.reverse()).reverse();
};

str = str.replaceLast('one', 'finish');

Not as elegant as the regex answers above, but easier to follow for the not-as-savvy among us:

function removeLastInstance(badtext, str) {
    var charpos = str.lastIndexOf(badtext);
    if (charpos<0) return str;
    ptone = str.substring(0,charpos);
    pttwo = str.substring(charpos+(badtext.length));
    return (ptone+pttwo);
}

I realize this is likely slower and more wasteful than the regex examples, but I think it might be helpful as an illustration of how string manipulations can be done. (It can also be condensed a bit, but again, I wanted each step to be clear.)

Here's a method that only uses splitting and joining. It's a little more readable so thought it was worth sharing:

    String.prototype.replaceLast = function (what, replacement) {
        var pcs = this.split(what);
        var lastPc = pcs.pop();
        return pcs.join(what) + replacement + lastPc;
    };