Javascript .replaceAll() is not a function type error

Question

The documentation page: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/replaceAll

let string = ":insertx: :insertx: :inserty: :inserty: :insertz: :insertz:"; let newstring = string.replaceAll(":insertx:", 'hello!');

When I run this, I receive Uncaught TypeError: string.replaceAll is not a function. Maybe I'm misunderstanding what a prototype is, but the function appears to be a string method that is available for use.

I'm using Chrome.

Answer 1

Use replace with a regular expression with the global modifier for better browser support. (Check the browser compatibility table on MDN to see which version of each browser started supporting the replaceAll method.)

let string = ":insertx: :insertx: :inserty: :inserty: :insertz: :insertz:"; let newstring = string.replace(/:insertx:/g, 'hello!'); console.log(newstring);

For a more generic solution, we can escape regular expression metacharacters and use the RegExp constructor. You could also add the function to String.prototype as a polyfill.

(It is necessary to escape the string to replace so that characters that have special meanings in regular expressions will be interpreted literally, e.g. . will refer only to actual dots rather than any character.)

//Taken from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions function escapeRegExp(string) {   return string.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&'); // $& means the whole matched string } function replaceAll(str, match, replacement){    return str.replace(new RegExp(escapeRegExp(match), 'g'), ()=>replacement); }  console.log(replaceAll('a.b.c.d.e', '.', '__')); console.log(replaceAll('a.b.c.d.e', '.', '$&'));

A specification-compliant shim can be found here.

Answer 2

.replaceAll will be available starting on Chrome 85. The current version is 83.

If you download Google Chrome Canary (which is on version 86), you'll be able to see that your code runs fine. Firefox is on version 78, and since .replaceAll has been available starting version 77, it works there too. It will work on current Safari as well. Microsoft Edge has it as unsupported.

You'll find supported browser versions at the bottom of the article in your question.