js escape regex pattern characters

1
2
3
4
5
const expression = new RegExp('\\.\\*', 'g');  // where: \\ will be converted to \ in the string literal
                                               //        . escaped by \. and * escaped by \*
                                               // Topic: https://dirask.com/questions/JavaScript-why-in-string-value-should-I-use-to-get-and-in-read-file-only-double-backslashes-in-strings-1b6xJ1

console.log(expression.source);  // '\\.\\*'      <---- source returns string literals with changed \ to \\