JS - How to split a string with more commas than I want

Question

I have a string with a list of items. The items in the list contain strings which represent numbers.

var list = '"One","Two","3,842","3,549","3,653","4,443","3,994","3,935"'

I tried splitting like so:

list.split(',')
// result: [""One"", ""Two"", ""3", "842"", ""3", "549"", ""3", "653"", ""4", "443"", ""3", "994"", ""3", "935""]

Which is not what I intended.

I would like:

["One","Two","3,842","3,549","3,653","4,443","3,994","3,935"]
// or even better:
["One", "Two", 3842, 3549, 3653, 4443, 3994, 3935]

How do I correctly split this string into an array like above?

This will likely help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1293147/javascript-code-to-parse-csv-data — Felix Kling, Jan 05 '16 at 22:24

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 05 '16 at 22:25

4

Try this:

var list = '"One","Two","3,842","3,549","3,653","4,443","3,994","3,935"'
var split = JSON.parse("[" + list + "]");

answered Jan 05 '16 at 22:25

Matthias

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mohamed-ibrahim · Answer 2 · 2016-01-06T11:37:30.453

4

You just need

list.split(',"').map(function(e) { 
  return e.replace(/"|,/g, '');
});

to make sure , is always followed by a ", and then remove any extra " or , then the result will be:

["One", "Two", "3842", "3549", "3653", "4443", "3994", "3935"]

edited Jan 06 '16 at 11:37

answered Jan 05 '16 at 22:25

mohamed-ibrahim

10,837
4
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I get one extra quote mark at the end of each item in the array this way. `[""One"", "Two"", "3,842"", "3,549"", "3,653"", "4,443"", "3,994"", "3,935""]` – SoluableNonagon Jan 05 '16 at 22:30
Though it does split the string. – SoluableNonagon Jan 05 '16 at 22:31
Remove the quotes around each element after you split them. – Barmar Jan 05 '16 at 22:33
@Barmar, I would like to do less processing rather than more. – SoluableNonagon Jan 05 '16 at 22:34

MinusFour · Answer 3 · 2016-01-05T23:23:09.050

Why not do a match of the elements inside the quotes?

var list = '"One","Two","3,842","3,549","3,653","4,443","3,994","3,935"';
var elems = list.match(/"[^"]*"/g);

A lengthier version with a capture group (this one doesn't have the extra double quotes):

var list = '"One","Two","3,842","3,549","3,653","4,443","3,994","3,935"',
    re = /"([^"]*)"/g,
    arr = [],
    result;

while(result = re.exec(list)){
        arr.push(result[1]);
}

JS - How to split a string with more commas than I want

3 Answers3