RegExp.escape returns a string with escaped regular expression characters for use within a regular expression.

var strName = 'Dr. Doogie Howser, M.D.';

var escName = RegExp.escape(strName); // Dr\. Doogie Howser, M\.D\.

var regName = new RegExp('\\b' + escName + '\\b'); // /\bDr\. Doogie Howser, M\.D\.\b/

All modern browsers are supported, including:

• Chrome

• Internet Explorer

• Firefox

• Opera

• Safari

• Android 2.2+

• Blackberry 7+

• iOS Safari 4+

If you would like to see RegExp.escape in a JavaScript standard, subscribe to the ECMAScript List and request to have it added it to an [ECMA Specification].

This project was inspired by Stuart P. Bentley’s Specifiction Topic. After reading it, I decided to throw this together.

RegExp.escape.js is 323B or 107B minified and gzipped.