Google Apps Script - replaceText - Can't Replace Period, Comma and Question Mark - google-apps-script

Question

I am trying to write a google app script, which will find and replace specific words with others in google docs...
I would like " hello " (space, hello, space) to be replaced by " R1 " (space, R1, space)
And if there is any punctuation mark after hello like a period, comma or question mark it should be the same logic:
" hello " to be replaced by " R1 "
" hello. " to be replaced by " R1. "
" hello, " to be replaced by " R1, "
" hello? " to be replaced by " R1? "
So I used the following:
function docReplace() {
var body = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody();
body.replaceText(" hello ", " R1 ");
body.replaceText(" hello. ", " R1. ");
body.replaceText(" hello, ", " R1, ");
body.replaceText(" hello? ", " R1? ");
}
Unfortunately this doesn't work, as "." , "," and "?" are regex symbols.
Then, I tried this:
function docReplace() {
var body = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody();
body.replaceText(" hello ", " R1 ");
body.replaceText(" hello\. ", " R1. ");
body.replaceText(" hello\, ", " R1, ");
body.replaceText(" hello\? ", " R1? ");
}
But still doesn't work. Commas and Question marks return as periods.
I would appreciate if anyone could help with the correct code.

Answer 1

You want to achieve the following replacement using Google Apps Script. In this sample, ## was used as the separator of the values.
From
## hello ##
## hello. ##
## hello, ##
## hello? ##
To
## R1 ##
## R1. ##
## R1, ##
## R1? ##
If my understanding is correct, how about this modification? In this modification, \., \, and \? are modified to \\., \\, and \\?, respectively.
Modified script:
function docReplace() {
var body = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument().getBody();
body.replaceText(" hello ", " R1 "); // Modified
body.replaceText(" hello\\. ", " R1. "); // Modified
body.replaceText(" hello\\, ", " R1, "); // Modified
body.replaceText(" hello\\? ", " R1? "); // Modified
}
Reference:
replaceText(searchPattern, replacement)
If I misunderstood your question and this was not the result you want, I apologize.