Is there a RegExp.escape function in JavaScript?

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The function linked in another answer is insufficient. It fails to escape ^ or $ (start and end of string), or -, which in a character group is used for ranges.

Use this function:

function escapeRegex(string) {
    return string.replace(/[-\/\\^$*+?.()|[\]{}]/g, '\\$&');
}

While it may seem unnecessary at first glance, escaping - (as well as ^) makes the function suitable for escaping characters to be inserted into a character class as well as the body of the regex.

Escaping / makes the function suitable for escaping characters to be used in a JavaScript regex literal for later evaluation.

As there is no downside to escaping either of them, it makes sense to escape to cover wider use cases.

And yes, it is a disappointing failing that this is not part of standard JavaScript.

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