Remove leading comma from a string

Question

I have the following string:

",'first string','more','even more'"

I want to transform this into an Array but obviously this is not valid due to the first comma. How can I remove the first comma from my string and make it a valid Array?

I’d like to end up with something like this:

myArray  = ['first string','more','even more']

@NikhilBenKuruvilla this will remove any character even if it's not a comma. Here's first character comma-only removal http://stackoverflow.com/a/39047793/696535 — Pawel, Mar 07 '17 at 10:50
Possible duplicate of [Delete first character of a string in Javascript](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4564414/delete-first-character-of-a-string-in-javascript) — Durgpal Singh, Oct 25 '17 at 10:42
Pawel, what would be the expression to remove the first semicolon no matter where it is from the beginning of the string? I have to use this: function removeFirstSemicolon(str) { str = str.trim(); str = str.replace(/^;/, ''); return str; } That might be more helpful -- there is often white space before and after the character so really I have to use trim twice. — user1585204, Oct 03 '18 at 11:32

score 315 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 17 '18 at 17:17

To remove the first character you would use:

var myOriginalString = ",'first string','more','even more'"; 
var myString = myOriginalString.substring(1);

I'm not sure this will be the result you're looking for though because you will still need to split it to create an array with it. Maybe something like:

var myString = myOriginalString.substring(1);
var myArray = myString.split(',');

Keep in mind, the ' character will be a part of each string in the split here.

thomasrutter · Answer 2 · 2018-08-06T00:09:32.267

97

In this specific case (there is always a single character at the start you want to remove) you'll want:

str.substring(1)

However, if you want to be able to detect if the comma is there and remove it if it is, then something like:

if (str[0] == ',') { 
  str = str.substring(1);
}

edited Aug 06 '18 at 00:09

answered Oct 13 '10 at 11:20

thomasrutter

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+1 for the conditional as well. Its always better to assume a comma may not be there. – JoeMoe1984 Jun 23 '14 at 19:17
1

This is a better answer and should be the accepted answer. – Christopher Smit Feb 07 '18 at 06:59
It's not necessary to run the substring twice to check the first character: `if (str[0] === ',')` just to make it slightly more performant. – Croot Jul 27 '18 at 01:45

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 19 '16 at 21:16

15

One-liner

str = str.replace(/^,/, '');

I'll be back.

answered Aug 19 '16 at 21:16

Pawel

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This one is better than the chosen answer. – Shehan DMG May 21 '23 at 09:29

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 13 '10 at 11:20

10

var s = ",'first string','more','even more'";

var array = s.split(',').slice(1);

That's assuming the string you begin with is in fact a String, like you said, and not an Array of strings.

answered Oct 13 '10 at 11:20

EMMERICH

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score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 30 '13 at 16:03

var s = ",'first string','more','even more'";  
s.split(/'?,'?/).filter(function(v) { return v; });

Results in:

["first string", "more", "even more'"]

First split with commas possibly surrounded by single quotes,
then filter the non-truthy (empty) parts out.

jjrv · Answer 6 · 2010-10-13T11:49:47.250

Assuming the string is called myStr:

// Strip start and end quotation mark and possible initial comma
myStr=myStr.replace(/^,?'/,'').replace(/'$/,'');

// Split stripping quotations
myArray=myStr.split("','");

Note that if a string can be missing in the list without even having its quotation marks present and you want an empty spot in the corresponding location in the array, you'll need to write the splitting manually for a robust solution.

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 13 '10 at 11:26

To turn a string into an array I usually use split()

> var s = ",'first string','more','even more'"
> s.split("','")
[",'first string", "more", "even more'"]

This is almost what you want. Now you just have to strip the first two and the last character:

> s.slice(2, s.length-1)
"first string','more','even more"

> s.slice(2, s.length-2).split("','");
["first string", "more", "even more"]

To extract a substring from a string I usually use slice() but substr() and substring() also do the job.

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Oct 13 '17 at 20:33

2

s=s.substring(1);

I like to keep stuff simple.

answered Oct 13 '17 at 20:33

Cris

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onalbi · Answer 9 · 2015-09-23T14:18:14.717

You can use directly replace function on javascript with regex or define a help function as in php ltrim(left) and rtrim(right):

1) With replace:

var myArray = ",'first string','more','even more'".replace(/^\s+/, '').split(/'?,?'/);

2) Help functions:

if (!String.prototype.ltrim) String.prototype.ltrim = function() {
    return this.replace(/^\s+/, '');
};
if (!String.prototype.rtrim) String.prototype.rtrim = function() {
    return this.replace(/\s+$/, '');
};
var myArray = ",'first string','more','even more'".ltrim().split(/'?,?'/).filter(function(el) {return el.length != 0});;

You can do and other things to add parameter to the help function with what you want to replace the char, etc.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 09 '18 at 06:20

0

this will remove the trailing commas and spaces

var str = ",'first string','more','even more'";
var trim = str.replace(/(^\s*,)|(,\s*$)/g, '');

answered Jan 09 '18 at 06:20

Avinash

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 06 '20 at 17:18

remove leading or trailing characters:

function trimLeadingTrailing(inputStr, toRemove) {
    // use a regex to match toRemove at the start (^)
    // and at the end ($) of inputStr
    const re = new Regex(`/^${toRemove}|{toRemove}$/`);
    return inputStr.replace(re, '');
}

Remove leading comma from a string

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