1

I have this string for example:

str = "my name is john#doe oh.yeh";

the end result I am seeking is this Array:

strArr = ['my','name','is','john','&#doe','oh','&yeh'];

which means 2 rules apply:

  1. split after each space " " (I know how)
  2. if there are special characters ("." or "#") then also split but add the characther "&" before the word with the special character.

I know I can strArr = str.split(" ") for the first rule. but how do I do the other trick?

thanks, Alon

Alon
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    Should it be `'doe'` or `'&doe'`? You have `'&yeh'` and not `'&.yeh'`. – Felix Kling Feb 19 '12 at 18:30
  • Do you expect to have those "special characters" as part of the input or there's no way any of them will occur even once? – Nitzan Tomer Feb 19 '12 at 18:31
  • possible duplicate of [How do I split a string that contains different signs?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1880332/how-do-i-split-a-string-that-contains-different-signs) – outis Feb 19 '12 at 18:35
  • @outis Did you miss the second part? – Rob W Feb 19 '12 at 18:39
  • @RobW: no, but this is really two questions, the first of which has already been asked. Currently looking for another of the second. – outis Feb 19 '12 at 18:42
  • ... [Finding a substring and inserting another string after it](http://stackoverflow.com/q/5865257/), [string.split(regex) keep seperators](http://stackoverflow.com/q/4204210/), though the answer for the latter is more complex than necessary for this particular problem. – outis Feb 19 '12 at 19:46

5 Answers5

6

Assuming the result should be '&doe' and not '&#doe', a simple solution would be to just replace all . and # with & split by spaces:

strArr = str.replace(/[.#]/g, ' &').split(/\s+/)

/\s+/ matches consecutive white spaces instead of just one.

If the result should be '&#doe' and '&.yeah' use the same regex and add a capture:

strArr = str.replace(/([.#])/g, ' &$1').split(/\s+/)
piouPiouM
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Felix Kling
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1

You have to use a Regular expression, to match all special characters at once. By "special", I assume that you mean "no letters".

var pattern = /([^ a-z]?)[a-z]+/gi;             // Pattern
var str = "my name is john#doe oh.yeh";         // Input string
var strArr = [], match;                         // output array,  temporary var
while ((match = pattern.exec(str)) !== null) {  // <-- For each match
   strArr.push( (match[1]?'&':'') + match[0]);  // <-- Add to array
}
// strArr is now:
// strArr = ['my', 'name', 'is', 'john', '&#doe', 'oh', '&.yeh']

It does not match consecutive special characters. The pattern has to be modified for that. Eg, if you want to include all consecutive characters, use ([^ a-z]+?).

Also, it does nothing include a last special character. If you want to include this one as well, use [a-z]* and remove !== null.

Rob W
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use split() method. That's what you need: http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_split.asp

Ok. i saw, you found it, i think:

1) first use split to the whitespaces
2) iterate through your array, split again in array members when you find # or .
3) iterate through your array again and str.replace("#", "&#") and str.replace(".","&.") when you find

czupe
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I would think a combination of split() and replace() is what you are looking for:

str = "my name is john#doe oh.yeh";

strArr = str.replace('\W',' &');

strArr = strArr.split(' ');

That should be close to what you asked for.

compugeek420
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This works: 

array = string.replace(/#|\./g, ' &$&').split(' ');

Take a look at demo here: http://jsfiddle.net/M6fQ7/1/

welldan97
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