Showing two .substring in the same alert()

Question

I have an assessment for Java script basics that I have not been able to study for due to unforeseen circumstances so I am now having to catch up in the little time I have.

My assessment states that I must find the substring of the start of each string, which I have managed to do but I am having trouble joining those two processed substrings into the one alert box ( I know these are frowned upon but the assessment states I must use this). I have tried using the + operator but this gives me the error of the second variable being produced twice. I have posted my code below for anyone to have a look.

function userName(){
   var name = "Joe";
   var surName = "Bloggs";
   name = name.substring(0,1);
   surName = surName.substring(0,1);
   alert(name);
}

Why have I been down voted for asking this? I am trying to learn and asking a simple question? — JWoods, May 12 '15 at 13:45
Welcome to [so]. Did you try performing some research before asking your question? There are numerous places which explain the basics of JavaScript: ["joining two strings javascript"](http://google.com/search?hl=en&q=joining+two+strings+javascript). — Qantas 94 Heavy, May 12 '15 at 13:48
I didn't downvote, but I'm guessing it's because you said you've tried `+`, but didn't really give enough details about what _exactly_ you tried and _precisely_ why it didn't work, given that that is (probably) the right way to solve this. — James Thorpe, May 12 '15 at 13:48
You say you tried the `+` operator, but you don't show what you tried. I didn't downvote you, but I would guess that this and the fact that this is an extremely basic question are the reasons you got downvoted. — elixenide, May 12 '15 at 13:49
As I said, I have very little time to research at the moment so trying to get it all done quickly as to not waste a years work because of one assessment. But thanks for the reply. — JWoods, May 12 '15 at 13:49

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Basically you can concat two variables (strings) using the + operator. The type of htese variables are defined dynamically and the + operator will concat them into a single variable (string), after that you can show the result into a alert.

function userName()
{
   var name = "Joe"
   var surName = "Bloggs"
   name = name.substring(0,1)
   surName = surName.substring(0,1)
   var result = name + surName;
   alert(result);
}

On the other hand, to get only the first char of a string variable in javascript, you can treats it as a array of chars and access the first index, (starting in 0) for sample:

function userName()
{
   var name = "Joe"
   var surName = "Bloggs"
   var result = name[0] + surName[0]; // get only the first char
   alert(result);
}

Alternativelly, there a method called string.concat(string) which allows you to concat two strings.

String concatenation This is a very discussed question in many languages and I recommend you to read this thread on stack overflow:

Best way to concatenate strings in JavaScript?

This is correct. It would be even better with some semicolons and one `var` statement. I realize your code tracks OP's code, but might as well teach good code hygiene while we're at it... :) — elixenide, May 12 '15 at 13:47

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 12 '15 at 13:46

2

function userName(){
   var name = "Joe";
   var surName = "Bloggs";
   name = name.substring(0,1);
   surName = surName.substring(0,1);
   alert(name + surName );
}

answered May 12 '15 at 13:46

ozil

6,930
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When I tried this out I was shown the surName var twice but now it seems to work, the tutor told us that using semi-colons was old and unneeded but with the addition of them it has worked. Thanks ozil. – JWoods May 12 '15 at 13:48
@ JWoods using `semi colons` at the end of the statement is good practice as you have already seen disadvantage of not using semi colon. – ozil May 12 '15 at 13:54

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 12 '15 at 13:46

0

Have you tried

alert(name + ' ' + surname)

This is just joining to strings with the a space ' '

answered May 12 '15 at 13:46

Nico

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Showing two .substring in the same alert()

3 Answers3