I am looking for JavaScript Regex that will replace the words in a block of text with only the first letter of each word BUT if there are words within brackets, leave them intact with the brackets. The purpose is to create a mnemonic device for remembering lines from a screenplay or theatrical script. I want the actual lines reduced to first letters but the stage directions (in parenthesis) to be unaltered.
For example:
Test test test (test). Test (test test) test test.
Would yield the result:
T t t (test). T (test test) t t.
Using:
.replace(/(\w)\w*/g,'$1')
Yields:
T t t (t). T (t t) t t.
My understanding of regex is very poor. I have been researching it for several days now and have tried many things but can't seem to wrap my head around a solution.
You can accomplish this with a small tweak to your regex:
/(\w|\([^)]+\))\w*/
The added part \([^)]+\) matches everything inside two pairs of parenthesis.
"Test test test (test). Test (test test) test test.".replace(/(\w|\([^)]+\))\w*/g,'$1')
>"T t t (test). T (test test) t t."
Edit: to address issues raised in the comments
"Test test test (test). Test (test. test.) test test. test(test) (test)test".replace(/(\w|\([^)]+)\w*/g,'$1')
>"T t t (test). T (test. test.) t t. t(test) (test)t"