How can I put the individual words of a string in a javascript array?

Question

I need to put the words of a text area into a JavaScript array. I've got it working right up to the crucial point. I've written a function to count the words, but that didn't really help as I need to count the words by using array.length or whatever the property may be.

<html>
  <head>
    <title>My Test Form</title>
  </head>

  <body>
    <textarea cols="80" rows="15"  id="words" name="words">
    </textarea>
    <br/> 
    <br/> 
    <br/> 
    <br/> 

    <script>
        function get_words()
        {
            var x = document.getElementById("words").value;
            return x;
        }

        function put_words_into_array() 
        {
            var w = get_words(); 
            var a = /// need code here to put words of the string into array
        }
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

See developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/… — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 5:13
Parsing english is even more impossible than parsing xml… O.O — bjb568
– bjb568, Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 5:13
Use the split command, have a look at: stackoverflow.com/a/5269894/1500022 — Sascha Wedler
– Sascha Wedler, Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 5:16

Paul · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 05:14:03Z

2

You could split it on groups of nonword characters:

var a = w.split(/\W+/);

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 5:14

Paul

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Comments

turing_machine · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 05:19:16Z

1

As mentioned above, use the split function.

function to_array()
{
    var words = document.getElementById('words').value;
    var words_arr = words.split(' '); // here is the array
    alert(words_arr);
}

Here is a working example: http://jsfiddle.net/X5x6P/1/

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 5:19

turing_machine

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Comments

Sumner Evans · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 05:13:45Z

1

Use the split function:

function get_words() {
    var x = document.getElementById("words").value;
    return x.split(' '); // Returns an array with each word.
}

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 5:13

Sumner Evans

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Comments

NiiL · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 05:18:17Z

0

function get_words(){
     var str = document.getElementById("words").value;
     return str.split(" ");
}

alert(get_words().length);

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 5:18

NiiL

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Comments

Sascha Wedler · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 05:28:04Z

0

Use the JavaScript "split" command:

var a = "1 2 3".split(" ");

This will result in the array a, having this content: ["1", "2", "3"] And keep in mind that the split function interprets it's parameter as a regular expression, when you use different separators.

edited Feb 27, 2014 at 5:28

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 5:21

Sascha Wedler

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