How to split a string starting at the beginning of a regex in javascript

Question

I have some data in a string, for example

const rawData = `1   Jon Doe 3434 535 3 3 353 HI 3535
2    Jane Smith 23 5235 5 5 2352 HELLO 3543
3      Some Guy 4534 35 5345 4 5345 MEOW 4354`

I want to use the .split() method to make each line (starting with the order number to the end of the last value) its own value in an array.

I have tried

rawData.split(/([0-9]+\s+[A-Z][a-z])/g);

the regex finds a number followed by some whitespace then a capital letter and a lower cased letter (the order number until the start of the first name)

this returns

["", "1 Jo", "n Doe 3434 535 3 3 353 HI 3535", "2 Ja", "ne Smith 23 5235 5 5 2352 HELLO 3543", "3 So", "me Guy 4534 35 5345 4 5345 MEOW 4354"]

I would like to have 3 values by splitting the string at the start of the regex. So I would like to end up with:

["1 Jon Doe 3434 535 3 3 353 HI 3535", "2 Jane Smith 23 5235 5 5 2352 HELLO 3543", "3 Some Guy 4534 35 5345 4 5345 MEOW 4354"]

I can think a workaround, using a for loop to join the values in the array after. I'm curious if there is a way to do it on one line. Thanks!

EDIT

I just found out about lookahead in regex, this works:

rawData.split(/\s(?=\d+\s+[A-Z][a-z])/g);

I think you mean "at the start of a string returned by a regex", not at the start of the regex itself. — isherwood
– isherwood, Commented Jan 28, 2020 at 19:13
@isherwood yup thats what I mean, still new to using regex so thanks for clarifying — Kevin Britten
– Kevin Britten, Commented Jan 28, 2020 at 20:23
@UthistranSelvaraj that worked, thanks! although I found a way to do it if they weren't on new lines, added to the original question — Kevin Britten
– Kevin Britten, Commented Jan 28, 2020 at 20:24

Nina Scholz · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-28 19:13:24Z

2

Why not split by new line?

const rawData = `1   Jon Doe 3434 535 3 3 353 HI 3535
2    Jane Smith 23 5235 5 5 2352 HELLO 3543
3      Some Guy 4534 35 5345 4 5345 MEOW 4354`,
    result = rawData.split(/\n/);

console.log(result);

answered Jan 28, 2020 at 19:13

Nina Scholz

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