ECMAScript proposal: RegExp escaping

The ECMAScript proposal “RegExp escaping” (by Jordan Harband and Kevin Gibbons) specifies a function RegExp.escape() that, given a string text, creates an escaped version that matches text – if interpreted as a regular expression. This proposal is currently at stage 3. How does RegExp.escape() work? What are the use cases for RegExp.escape()? Example: replacing all occurrences of a text Example: part of a regular expression must match a given text Considerations for escaping Escaping must work for all flags Escaping must work in all syntactic contexts Escaping must work whatever syntax precedes or succeeds the escaped text Implementations of RegExp.escape() Further reading.