Replacing only a part of regexp matching

Question

please consider the following javascript code:

"myObject.myMethod();".replace(/\.\w+\(/g, "xxx");

it gives "myObjectxxx);" as ".myMethod(" is selected.

Now I would only select myMethod instead. In other words I want to select any word starting with . and ending with ( (excluded).

Thanks, Luca.

Answer 1

General answer: Capture the part that you want to keep with parentheses, and include it in the substitution string as $1.

See any regexp substitution tutorial for details.

Here: just include the . and the ( in your substitution string.

For an exercise, write a regexp that will turn any string of the scheme --ABC--DEF-- to --DEF--ABC-- for arbitrary letter-values of ABC and DEF. So --XY--IJK-- should turn into --IJK--XY--. Here you really need to use capture groups and back references.