title: Javascript: using a wildcard character with a replace method
body: <p>I have a String that contains a line of html code eg. <code>'&lt;b&gt;1995&lt;/b&gt;'</code>. Let's say this String could also contain <code>'&lt;b&gt;1997&lt;/b&gt;'</code> or <code>'&lt;b&gt;1999&lt;/b&gt;'</code> etc. I want to use a replace method to remove the tags but leave the years. Is there a way to implement a wildcard character to do this, something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>first_string = "First year is &lt;b&gt;1997&lt;/b&gt; and second year is &lt;b&gt;1999&lt;/b&gt;"
  second_string = first_string.replace(/&lt;b&gt;19.*&lt;\/b&gt;/g, 19.*)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any help would be much appreciated</p>