Javascript replace string with comes back empty

Question

I have a javascript string like below:

var content = 'Robert John Testy'
content = content.replace('John','<MiddleName>');

It returns 'Robert Testy' instead of 'Robert <MiddleName> Testy'

Any idea's? Thanks.

No, it returns `'Robert Testy'` - if you can't see it your likely viewing it in an HTML context where its perceived as a mangled tag and removed. console.log() it. — Alex K., Mar 26 '15 at 14:39

mohamedrias · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-26T14:59:23.470

Looks like you're running it in HTML context:

In that case you must use '<MiddleName> which will be displayed as <MiddleName> when rendered in HTML

var content = 'Robert John Testy'
content = content.replace('John','&lt;MiddleName&gt;');

Just demonstrating the difference between both:

 <html>
  <body>
     <div id="results1"> </div>
     <div id="results"> </div>

     <script type="text/javascript">
             var content = 'Robert John Testy'
             content = content.replace('John','&lt;MiddleName&gt;');
             document.querySelector("#results").innerHTML =content;
             content = 'Robert John Testy'
             content = content.replace('John', '<MiddleName>');
                
             document.querySelector("#results1").innerHTML =content;

     </script>
  </body>
 </html>

Javascript replace string with comes back empty

1 Answers1