javascript using regex to get multiple separates including text string separator

Question

I have a string that I wish to split using multiple separators (including a string separator which I can't find much information on)

I wish to split the string on occurrences of / and the string AGL but that the moment when I print out the array array[0] I just get L. Quotes around the string AGL don't seem to make a difference.

str = "LLF ABC TEMP / HERE / RET / UP TP 12F AGL PLACENAME VALUES / AVM / ABC / PPP / END"
var array = [];
array = str.split(/(AGL|\/|)/g);

So at the end my array should have 9 items.

LLF ABC TEMP

HERE

RET

UP TP 12F

PLACENAME VALUES

AVM

ABC

PPP

END

Thank you.

Here's a function that will do it [without the use of regex"](https://stackoverflow.com/a/32754249/1533592) — dale landry, Sep 29 '21 at 22:39

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '21 at 22:30

You can use

str = "LLF ABC TEMP / HERE / RET / UP TP 12F AGL PLACENAME VALUES / AVM / ABC / PPP / END"
var array = str.split(/\s*(?:AGL|\/)\s*/);
console.log(array);

Note you do not need /g flag with .split, it is the default behavior.

The \s*(?:AGL|\/)\s* regex matches

\s* - zero or more whitespaces
(?:AGL|\/) - a non-capturing group (so that its value could not land in the resulting array) matching either AGL or /
\s* - zero or more whitespaces.

noah_hendlish · Answer 2 · 2021-09-30T00:24:37.297

I think this is what you were trying to do, was a little tricky, since you need to use the lookbehind group:

str = "LLF ABC TEMP / HERE / RET / UP TP 12F AGL PLACENAME VALUES / AVM / ABC / PPP / END"
var array = [];
array = str.match(/(\b(AGL)|(\w+([^\/])(?!(AGL)))+\b)/g); 
console.log(array)

This is the regex (/(\b(AGL)|(\w+([^/])(?!(AGL)))+\b)/g). I also used match instead of split, so you don't get Undefined, empty string values and '/' values in your array.

If this isn't exactly what you were looking for, see: regexr.com/66jhd It's a great little web tool for testing regex.

javascript using regex to get multiple separates including text string separator

2 Answers2