Javascript split string to array by comma

Topic: JavaScript / jQueryPrev|Next

Answer: Use the split() Method

You can use the JavaScript split() method to split a string using a specific separator such as comma (,), space, etc. If separator is an empty string, the string is converted to an array of characters.

The following example demonstrates how to convert a comma separated string of person name into an array and retrieve the individual name using JavaScript.

Please check out the tutorial on JavaScript Strings to learn more about string manipulation.

Related FAQ

Here are some more FAQ related to this topic:

• How to check if a value exists in an array in JavaScript
• How to remove duplicate values from a JavaScript array
• How to display all items or values in an array using loop in jQuery

var array = string.split(',');

MDN reference, mostly helpful for the possibly unexpected behavior of the limit parameter. (Hint: "a,b,c".split(",", 2) comes out to ["a", "b"], not ["a", "b,c"].)

answered May 18, 2010 at 14:24

10

Watch out if you are aiming at integers, like 1,2,3,4,5. If you intend to use the elements of your array as integers and not as strings after splitting the string, consider converting them into such.

var str = "1,2,3,4,5,6";
var temp = new Array();
// This will return an array with strings "1", "2", etc.
temp = str.split(",");

Adding a loop like this,

for (a in temp ) {
    temp[a] = parseInt(temp[a], 10); // Explicitly include base as per Álvaro's comment
}

will return an array containing integers, and not strings.

answered Dec 14, 2010 at 15:58

poppop

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11

Hmm, split is dangerous IMHO as a string can always contain a comma. Observe the following:

var myArr = "a,b,c,d,e,f,g,','";
result = myArr.split(',');

So how would you interpret that? And what do you want the result to be? An array with:

['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', '\'', '\''] or
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', ',']

Even if you escape the comma, you'd have a problem.

I quickly fiddled this together:

(function($) {
    $.extend({
        splitAttrString: function(theStr) {
            var attrs = [];

            var RefString = function(s) {
                this.value = s;
            };
            RefString.prototype.toString = function() {
                return this.value;
            };
            RefString.prototype.charAt = String.prototype.charAt;
            var data = new RefString(theStr);

            var getBlock = function(endChr, restString) {
                var block = '';
                var currChr = '';
                while ((currChr != endChr) && (restString.value !== '')) {
                    if (/'|"/.test(currChr)) {
                        block = $.trim(block) + getBlock(currChr, restString);
                    }
                    else if (/\{/.test(currChr)) {
                        block = $.trim(block) + getBlock('}', restString);
                    }
                    else if (/\[/.test(currChr)) {
                        block = $.trim(block) + getBlock(']', restString);
                    }
                    else {
                        block += currChr;
                    }
                    currChr = restString.charAt(0);
                    restString.value = restString.value.slice(1);
                }
                return $.trim(block);
            };

            do {
                var attr = getBlock(',', data);
                attrs.push(attr);
            }
            while (data.value !== '')
                ;
            return attrs;
        }
    });
})(jQuery);

answered Aug 29, 2012 at 15:12

JustmeJustme

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2

The split() method is used to split a string into an array of substrings, and returns the new array.

var array = string.split(',');

om-nom-nom

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answered May 18, 2010 at 14:27

JakkwyldeJakkwylde

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3

Note that the following:

var a = "";
var x = new Array();
x = a.split(",");
alert(x.length);

will alert 1

answered Mar 18, 2014 at 14:16

user1386213user1386213

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Pass your comma-separated string into this function and it will return an array, and if a comma-separated string is not found then it will return null.

function splitTheString(CommaSepStr) {
    var ResultArray = null;

    // Check if the string is null or so.
    if (CommaSepStr!= null) {

        var SplitChars = ',';

        // Check if the string has comma of not will go to else
        if (CommaSepStr.indexOf(SplitChars) >= 0) {
            ResultArray = CommaSepStr.split(SplitChars);

        }
        else {

            // The string has only one value, and we can also check
            // the length of the string or time and cross-check too.
            ResultArray = [CommaSepStr];
        }
    }
    return ResultArray;
}

answered Nov 29, 2012 at 9:51

BJ PatelBJ Patel

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4

Upgraded str.split(',')

The simple str.split(',') doesn't have much smarts. Here are some upgrades for different needs. You can customize the functionality to your heart's content.

const str = "a, b,c,  d  ,e  ,f,,g"
const num = "1, 2,3,  4  ,5  ,6,,7.495"
const mix = "a, 2,3,  d  ,5  ,f,,7.495,g"

console.log(    str.split(',')
) // spaces NOT trimmed, empty values included
  // ["a", " b", "c", "  d  ", "e  ", "f", "", "g"] 

console.log(    str.split(/[ ,]+/)
) // spaces trimmed, empty values skipped
  // ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g"] 

console.log(    str.split(/\s*,\s*/)
) // spaces trimmed, empty values NOT skipped
  // ["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "", "g"]

console.log(    num.split(',').map(Number)
) // numbers, empty values default to zero
  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 0, 7.495] 

console.log(    num.split(/[ ,]+/).map(Number)
) // numbers, skips empty values
  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.495]

console.log(    mix.split(/\s*,\s*/)
                .map(x => (x === '') ? '' : (isNaN(Number(x)) ? x : Number(x)) )
) // mixed values, empty values included
  // ["a", 2, 3, "d", 5, "f", "", 7.495, "g"]

Using JSON.parse

It may feel like a bit of a hack, but it's simple and highly optimized by most Javascript engines.

It has some other advantages such as support for nested lists. But there are disadvantages, such as requiring the input to be properly formatted JSON.

By using string.replace similar to how I used string.split above, you can fix the input. In the first two examples below, I customize how I want empty values handled:

const num = "1, 2,3,  4  ,5  ,6,,7.495"
const mix = "a, 2,3,  d  ,5  ,f,7.495,g"

console.log(    JSON.parse('['+num.replace(/,\s*,/,',0,')+']')
) // numbers, empty values default to zero
  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 0, 7.495]

console.log(    JSON.parse('['+num.replace(/,\s*,/,',')+']')
) // numbers, skips empty values
  // [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.495]

console.log(    JSON.parse('['+mix.replace(/(^|,)\s*([^,]*[^0-9, ][^,]*?)\s*(?=,|$)/g,'$1"$2"')+']') 
) // mixed values, will ERROR on empty values
  // ["a", 2, 3, "d", 5, "f", "7.495", "g"]  

answered Nov 14, 2021 at 18:51

InigoInigo

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0

Here is a function that will convert a string to an array, even if there is only one item in the list (no separator character):

function listToAray(fullString, separator) {
  var fullArray = [];

  if (fullString !== undefined) {
    if (fullString.indexOf(separator) == -1) {
      fullArray.push(fullString);
    } else {
      fullArray = fullString.split(separator);
    }
  }

  return fullArray;
}

Use it like this:

var myString = 'alpha,bravo,charlie,delta';
var myArray = listToArray(myString, ',');
myArray[2]; // charlie

var yourString = 'echo';
var yourArray = listToArray(yourString, ',');
yourArray[0]; // echo

I created this function because split throws out an error if there isn't any separator character in the string (only one item).

radu122

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answered Oct 22, 2013 at 16:23

Kabb5Kabb5

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2

let str = "January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December"

let arr = str.split(',');

it will result:

["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

and if you want to convert following to:

["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

this:

"January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December";

use:

str = arr.join(',')

Mosbah

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answered Jan 23, 2019 at 9:18

Mubeen KhanMubeen Khan

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Return function

var array = (new Function("return [" + str+ "];")());

Its accept string and objectstrings:

var string = "0,1";

var objectstring = '{Name:"Tshirt", CatGroupName:"Clothes", Gender:"male-female"}, {Name:"Dress", CatGroupName:"Clothes", Gender:"female"}, {Name:"Belt", CatGroupName:"Leather", Gender:"child"}';

var stringArray = (new Function("return [" + string+ "];")());

var objectStringArray = (new Function("return [" + objectstring+ "];")());

JSFiddle https://jsfiddle.net/7ne9L4Lj/1/

answered Sep 18, 2015 at 16:48

Andi ARAndi AR

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1

I had a similar issue, but more complex as I needed to transform a CSV file into an array of arrays (each line is one array element that inside has an array of items split by comma).

The easiest solution (and more secure I bet) was to use PapaParse which has a "no-header" option that transform the CSV file into an array of arrays, plus, it automatically detected the "," as my delimiter.

Plus, it is registered in Bower, so I only had to:

bower install papa-parse --save

And then use it in my code as follows:

var arrayOfArrays = Papa.parse(csvStringWithEnters), {header:false}).data;

I really liked it.

answered Jun 18, 2015 at 3:58

Diego PamioDiego Pamio

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A good solution for that:

let obj = ['A','B','C']

obj.map((c) => { return c. }).join(', ')

answered Mar 21, 2018 at 13:59

ManspofManspof

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answered Oct 21, 2019 at 19:17

Kamil KiełczewskiKamil Kiełczewski

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2

As @oportocala mentions, an empty string will not result in the expected empty array.

So to counter, do:

str
.split(',')
.map(entry => entry.trim())
.filter(entry => entry)

For an array of expected integers, do:

str
.split(',')
.map(entry => parseInt(entry))
.filter(entry => typeof entry ==='number')

answered Jun 23, 2020 at 9:53

I made php script to convert string to array, and you can run it into your browser, so is easy

    

        String 

        
    
    

        konvert
    


";
}
?>

answered May 2, 2021 at 6:22

let myString = "January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December";
      const temp=myString .split(",");
      console.log(temp);

Output:-  ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

Very simple you can use the split default javascript function for this.

answered May 8, 2021 at 11:55

Force BoltForce Bolt

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If the user makes a typo by adding an extra space. You could use something like this.

tags: foo,  zar, gar

const stringToArr = (string) => {
  return string.trim.split(",");
};

answered Aug 19, 2021 at 15:02

0

Easiest way to do it:

let myStr = '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8';

const stringToArr = (myStr) => {
    return myStr.split(',').map(x => x.trim());
};

answered Jun 29 at 7:44

For an array of strings to a comma-separated string:

let months = ["January","Feb"];
let monthsString = months.join(", ");

answered Nov 20, 2019 at 7:25

Srikanth GowdaSrikanth Gowda

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4

How do I convert a string to an array in JavaScript?

How do you split a string by a comma and space?

Which method can you use character other than comma to separate values from array?

How Split comma separated Values in HTML?