diff --git a/src/node-transformers/finalizing-transformers/DirectivePlacementTransformer.ts b/src/node-transformers/finalizing-transformers/DirectivePlacementTransformer.ts
index 63f41477..8d25c0f9 100644
--- a/src/node-transformers/finalizing-transformers/DirectivePlacementTransformer.ts
+++ b/src/node-transformers/finalizing-transformers/DirectivePlacementTransformer.ts
@@ -127,21 +127,9 @@ export class DirectivePlacementTransformer extends AbstractNodeTransformer {
             // append new directive node at the top of lexical scope statements
             NodeAppender.prepend(nodeWithLexicalScopeStatements, [newDirectiveNode]);
 
-            // remove found directive node
-            let isDirectiveNodeRemoved: boolean = false;
-            estraverse.replace(nodeWithLexicalScopeStatements, {
-                enter: (node: ESTree.Node): estraverse.VisitorOption | undefined => {
-                    if (isDirectiveNodeRemoved) {
-                        return estraverse.VisitorOption.Break;
-                    }
-
-                    if (node === directiveNode) {
-                        isDirectiveNodeRemoved = true;
-
-                        return estraverse.VisitorOption.Remove;
-                    }
-                }
-            });
+            nodeWithLexicalScopeStatements.body = nodeWithLexicalScopeStatements.body.filter(
+                (node) => node !== directiveNode
+            );
         }
 
         return nodeWithLexicalScopeStatements;
diff --git a/src/utils/EscapeSequenceEncoder.ts b/src/utils/EscapeSequenceEncoder.ts
index 6db012ab..75511d7c 100644
--- a/src/utils/EscapeSequenceEncoder.ts
+++ b/src/utils/EscapeSequenceEncoder.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ export class EscapeSequenceEncoder implements IEscapeSequenceEncoder {
      */
     private static readonly forceEscapeCharactersRegExp: RegExp = /[\x00-\x1F\x7F-\x9F'"\\\s]/;
 
+    /**
+     * @type {RegExp}
+     */
+    private static readonly replaceRegExp: RegExp = /[\s\S]/g;
+
     /**
      * @type {Map<string, string>}
      */
@@ -37,12 +42,11 @@ export class EscapeSequenceEncoder implements IEscapeSequenceEncoder {
         }
 
         const radix: number = 16;
-        const replaceRegExp: RegExp = new RegExp('[\\s\\S]', 'g');
 
         let prefix: string;
         let template: string;
 
-        const result: string = string.replace(replaceRegExp, (character: string): string => {
+        const result: string = string.replace(EscapeSequenceEncoder.replaceRegExp, (character: string): string => {
             const shouldEncodeCharacter: boolean =
                 encodeAllSymbols || EscapeSequenceEncoder.forceEscapeCharactersRegExp.test(character);