How do I test if a string kind of equals another javascript

Question

Say I have var string1 = "Hello" and string2 = "Hello" How can I compare these two and ignore the capitals and the punctuation in javascript?

I think you're looking for something like [edit distance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edit_distance). — Ted Hopp, Mar 01 '17 at 19:04

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

2

Try this:

Use String.toLowerCase() to lowercase a string. To remove punctuation, see this post: How can I strip all punctuation from a string in JavaScript using regex?

Then compare with the === operator. For example:

var string1 = "Hello";
var string2 = "Hello";

string1 = string1.replace(/[.,\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=\-_`~()]/g,"");
string2 = string2.replace(/[.,\/#!$%\^&\*;:{}=\-_`~()]/g,"");

if (string1.toLowerCase() === string2.toLowerCase()) {
    // Do something
}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Mar 01 '17 at 19:05

Hum4n01d

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Or `.replace(/[^a-z]/gi, "");`. And where is the semicolons `;`? – ibrahim mahrir Mar 01 '17 at 19:07
@ibrahimmahrir I don’t use semicolons but I’ll add them – Hum4n01d Mar 01 '17 at 19:08
@ibrahimmahrir Also you aren’t accounting for capitals and numbers with that regex – Hum4n01d Mar 01 '17 at 19:09
Just a word of advice: **ALWAYS USE THE FREAKING SEMICOLONS OR ONE DAY YOU'LL REGRET IT**! – ibrahim mahrir Mar 01 '17 at 19:09
I don't think numbers are important and for the lower/upper case thing you can use the `i` modifier! – ibrahim mahrir Mar 01 '17 at 19:10

How do I test if a string kind of equals another javascript

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