aderowbotham · September 6, 2021 16:25
diff --git a/replace-content-not-attributes.js b/replace-content-not-attributes.js
 // javascript (ES5)
 function highlight(content, term, startWrapper, endWrapper){
  // negative match for the pattern surrounded by quotes ""
  // followed by positive match for the term on its own
  // the required pattern is as follows but we have to use RegExp() to set the term dynamically
  // regex = /(?!"*term*")(?:term)/ig
  
  var expression = new RegExp('(?!"*' + term + ' *")(?:' + term + ')', "i");
  return content.replace(expression, startWrapper + content.match(expression) + endWrapper);
 }



 <!-- HTML where we want to find '1234' and wrap in highlight tags: <i class="highlight">1234</i> -->
 <body>
 <div>
  <a id="1234">1234</a>
 </div>
 <div>
  <a id="5678">5678</a>
 </div>

 <script>
  // example with jQuery
  var term = "1234"
  $("div").each(function() {
    var content = $(this).html();
    $(this).html(highlight(content, term, "<i class=\"highlight\">", "</i>"));
  });
 </script>

 </body>