Replacing newline character in javascript

Question

I am trying to replaces instances of \r or \n characters in my json object with <br /> for display on a website.

I tried:

myString = myString.replace("\\r?\\n", "<br />");

But this doesn't seem to do anything. When I replace the regex with something else (like "a" for instance, the replace works as expected). Any ideas why this isn't working for the newline chars?

Why not just dump the string into a `
` instead, which preserves white space? — Matt Ball, Apr 14 '11 at 14:12
...Or use CSS `white-space: pre;` on whatever element you are filling with the text — James, Mar 12 '13 at 13:01

score 51 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 17 '14 at 10:25

51

Try this:

myString = myString.replace(/[\r\n]/g, "<br />");

Update: As told by Pointy on the comment below, this would replace a squence of \r\n with two <br />, the correct regex should be:

myString = myString.replace(/\r?\n/g, "<br />");

edited Jan 17 '14 at 10:25

Pere

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52

answered Apr 14 '11 at 14:09

Felipe

1,290
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4

This will work, but it's probably **not** exactly what the OP wants. The almost-regex in the question is close: `/\r?\n/g` will replace any single line feed character *optionally* preceded by a carriage return character, with a single `
`. Your regex, on the other hand, would replace a CR-LF sequence with **two** `
` tags. – Pointy Apr 14 '11 at 14:14
Oh yes, sorry. I've read "\r or \n" no the question, and didn't think about it. going to fix the answer, thanks. – Felipe Apr 14 '11 at 14:19

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 25 '17 at 22:57

3

CSS:

 white-space: pre-wrap;

Is a far more eficient method.

answered Jul 25 '17 at 22:57

Christian Pastor Cruz

376
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9

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 14 '11 at 14:12

2

try replace(/\r\n|\n/, '<br />')

answered Apr 14 '11 at 14:12

Vlad Khomich

5,820
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1

This only replaced the first occurance for me. Change it to this to replace all new lines: replace(/\r\n|\n/g, "
"); – Jason Siffring Oct 14 '11 at 18:52

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 21 '15 at 01:38

1

This worked for me:

str = str.replace(/\\n|\\r\\n|\\r/g, '<br/>');

Using double slash

answered Jul 21 '15 at 01:38

Ricardo Ruwer

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Replacing newline character in javascript

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