replace for " " (space) doesn't work

Question

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<p id="demo">Click the button to locate where in the string a specifed value occurs.</p>

<button onclick="myFunction()">Try it</button>

<script>
function myFunction()
{
var a =" picture";
a.replace(" ","");


var n=a.indexOf(" ");
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML= n+a+n;
}
</script>

</body>
</html>

I would like to replace " "(Space) out from the " picture" in the example above

but the result seem it's not replace by the replace command.

The result should be "-1picture-1" after replace but it's "0 picture0"

with a space in front of picture. (I use .indexOf(" ") to indicate that

there are a space in the variable or not -1 mean it doesn't )

What's it happen?? Please advise

Quentin · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-25T14:45:43.550

9

replace doesn't modify the string in place, it returns a modified string.

a = a.replace(" ","");

edited Apr 25 '13 at 14:45

answered Apr 25 '13 at 14:38

Quentin

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FYI use `.replace(/ /g, '')` if there's more than 1 whitespace in your string and you want all replaced. – Henrik Andersson Apr 25 '13 at 14:40

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 25 '13 at 14:39

2

Use String.trim() to remove trailing spaces.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/Trim

In your example,

var a = " picture";
a = a.trim();
...

answered Apr 25 '13 at 14:39

ddavison

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This could be used if the OP doesn't need to support IE 8 … but since it also *returns* the modified value instead of operating in place, it doesn't solve the problem. (Although the additional, unexplained, changes you made in your example would) – Quentin Apr 25 '13 at 14:40

ncubica · Answer 3 · 2013-04-25T15:12:42.490

1

I think this could works pretty well...

return str.replace(/\s+/g, '');

why I got a downvote???

alert("some #$%%&& person gave me a downvote!!".replace(/\s+/g, ''));

this totally works!!!!!!

http://jsfiddle.net/ncubica/FBxy2/

edited Apr 25 '13 at 15:12

answered Apr 25 '13 at 14:41

ncubica

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Person ncubica = new Person(); If(downVote(ncubica)) { ncubica.rage(); } – CrazedCoder Jan 15 '16 at 00:17

CrayonViolent · Answer 4 · 2013-04-25T14:44:53.187

0

You need to assign the returned value back to a

var a =" picture";
a = a.replace(" ","");

edit:

Would also like to throw it out there that a .replace(" ","") will only work for the first instance of a space, and it may not even be at the beginning of the string. If you are wanting to trim only leading and trailing spaces, consider this:

var a =" picture";
a = a.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g,"");

edited Apr 25 '13 at 14:44

answered Apr 25 '13 at 14:39

CrayonViolent

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replace for " " (space) doesn't work

4 Answers4