JavaScript Regex to create array of whole words only.

Question

I'm trying to split out the whole words out of a string without whitespace or special characters.

So from

'(votes + downvotes) / views'

I'd like to create an array like the following

['votes', 'downvotes, 'views']

Have tried the following, but catching the parens and some whitespace. https://regex101.com/r/yX9iW8/1

Is it just the string in your example or others as well? Are numbers expected in input? If so, do you want to treat them as "words?" — smcd
– smcd, Commented May 27, 2016 at 18:52
Im splitting the numbers and operators into their own arrays with another match. — shaunix
– shaunix, Commented May 27, 2016 at 18:57

Nina Scholz · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-27 18:51:03Z

2

You could use /\w+/g as regular expression in combination with String#match

var array = '(votes + downvotes) / views'.match(/\w+/g);
console.log(array);

answered May 27, 2016 at 18:51

Nina Scholz

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Comments

Paul S. · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-27 18:50:44Z

1

You can use \W+ to split on all non-word characters

'(votes + downvotes) / views'.split(/\W+/g).filter(x => x !== '');
// ["votes", "downvotes", "views"]

Or \w+ to match on all word characters

'(votes + downvotes) / views'.match(/\w+/g);
// ["votes", "downvotes", "views"]

answered May 27, 2016 at 18:50

Paul S.

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3 Comments

shaunix Over a year ago

Thanks Paul, this worked great. As soon as I can accept an answer I will.

Richard Hamilton Over a year ago

An even better option would be .filter(x => x)

Paul S. Over a year ago

@RichardHamilton thought about it, decided that I wasn't so comfortable with it in a filter. If you want shorter shorthand, either Boolean or x => !!x would sit better with me [2, undefined, 1, 'a', '', false, null].filter(Boolean); // [2, 1, "a"]

Sergey Khalitov · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-27 18:55:50Z

0

It's very simple...

var matches = '(votes + downvotes) / views'.match(/[a-z]+/ig);

You must decide for your project what characters make a words, and min-length of word. It can be chars with digits and dash with min-length of 3 characters...

[a-z0-9-]{3,}

Good luck!

answered May 27, 2016 at 18:55

Sergey Khalitov

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