How to Remove Comments from JavaScript Code

JavaScript has two comment styles, string literals in three flavours and regex literals that can contain slashes — which is why removing comments is trickier than it looks. Here are the approaches that work.

The regex trap

A quick search turns up patterns like this:

const cleaned = source.replace(/\/\/.*|\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, "");

It works on simple files, then breaks on perfectly normal code:

const api = "https://example.com/api";   // the URL is cut at //
const re = /https?:\/\//;                // a regex literal containing //
const tpl = `/* not a comment */`;        // comment syntax inside a template

To remove comments safely you need something that understands JavaScript's strings, template literals and regex literals — a parser or a tokenizer.

Option 1: Let your build tool do it

If the goal is smaller production files, your bundler or minifier can already strip comments:

• Terser: pass { format: { comments: false } } to minify() to drop all comments, including license comments it would otherwise keep.
• esbuild: --minify removes comments; add --legal-comments=none to drop license comments too.
• Babel: the comments: false option outputs code without comments, while keeping it readable.

Option 2: A comment-stripping package

Small packages such as strip-comments on npm remove comments without minifying. Check how they handle regex literals and template strings before running them over a whole codebase.

Option 3: A free online tool

For a one-off clean-up, paste your code into the Code Comment Remover:

• removes //, /* */ and JSDoc comments
• leaves strings, template literals and escaped slashes in regex literals alone
• keeps // eslint-disable, // @ts-ignore and /*! license */ comments by default
• keeps your formatting — comment-only lines are removed, nothing else moves

Keep the comments that matter

Some comments change how your tools behave. Removing // eslint-disable-next-line brings lint errors back, and // @ts-expect-error is checked by TypeScript. License headers may be required when you redistribute code. Strip everything else freely.

If you're cleaning up AI-generated JavaScript, you may want to remove only the comments that repeat the code, and keep the ones that explain decisions. That's what the Code Humanizer does.

Summary

• Regex-based removal breaks URLs, regex literals and template strings.
• Use Terser, esbuild or Babel options for build output.
• Use the free Comment Remover for readable source without comments.