Replace multiple characters in one replace call

Use the OR operator (|):

var str = '#this #is__ __#a test###__';
str.replace(/#|_/g,''); // result: "this is a test"

You could also use a character class:

str.replace(/[#_]/g,'');

Fiddle

If you want to replace the hash with one thing and the underscore with another, then you will just have to chain. However, you could add a prototype:

String.prototype.allReplace = function(obj) {
    var retStr = this;
    for (var x in obj) {
        retStr = retStr.replace(new RegExp(x, 'g'), obj[x]);
    }
    return retStr;
};

console.log('aabbaabbcc'.allReplace({'a': 'h', 'b': 'o'}));
// console.log 'hhoohhoocc';

Why not chain, though? I see nothing wrong with that.

If you want to replace multiple characters you can call the String.prototype.replace() with the replacement argument being a function that gets called for each match. All you need is an object representing the character mapping which you will use in that function.

For example, if you want a replaced with x, b with y and c with z, you can do something like this:

var chars = {'a':'x','b':'y','c':'z'};
var s = '234abc567bbbbac';
s = s.replace(/[abc]/g, m => chars[m]);
console.log(s);

Output: 234xyz567yyyyxz

Chaining is cool, why dismiss it?

Anyway, here is another option in one replace:

string.replace(/#|_/g,function(match) {return (match=="#")?"":" ";})

The replace will choose "" if match=="#", " " if not.

[Update] For a more generic solution, you could store your replacement strings in an object:

var replaceChars={ "#":"" , "_":" " };
string.replace(/#|_/g,function(match) {return replaceChars[match];})

Specify the /g (global) flag on the regular expression to replace all matches instead of just the first:

string.replace(/_/g, ' ').replace(/#/g, '')

To replace one character with one thing and a different character with something else, you can't really get around needing two separate calls to replace. You can abstract it into a function as Doorknob did, though I would probably have it take an object with old/new as key/value pairs instead of a flat array.

Replace multiple characters in one replace call

Fiddle

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