Possible to split a string with separator after every word in JavaScript

To split a string with separator after every word, you can use the split() method combined with filter() to remove empty elements that may result from consecutive separators.

Syntax

let result = string.split('separator').filter(value => value);

Basic Example

Let's start with a string that has separators between words:

let sentence = "-My-Name-is-John-Smith-I-live-in-US";
console.log("Original string:", sentence);

let result = sentence.split('-').filter(value => value);
console.log("After split():");
console.log(result);

Original string: -My-Name-is-John-Smith-I-live-in-US
After split():
[
  'My',   'Name',
  'is',   'John',
  'Smith', 'I',
  'live', 'in',
  'US'
]

How It Works

The split('-') method creates an array by breaking the string at each hyphen. Since our string starts with a hyphen, the first element would be an empty string. The filter(value => value) removes these empty elements:

let text = "-Hello-World-";
console.log("Without filter:", text.split('-'));
console.log("With filter:", text.split('-').filter(value => value));

Without filter: [ '', 'Hello', 'World', '' ]
With filter: [ 'Hello', 'World' ]

Different Separators

This technique works with any separator character:

// Using comma separator
let csvData = "apple,banana,orange,grape";
console.log("CSV split:", csvData.split(','));

// Using pipe separator
let pipeData = "red|green|blue|yellow";
console.log("Pipe split:", pipeData.split('|'));

// Using space separator
let spaceData = "one two three four";
console.log("Space split:", spaceData.split(' '));

CSV split: [ 'apple', 'banana', 'orange', 'grape' ]
Pipe split: [ 'red', 'green', 'blue', 'yellow' ]
Space split: [ 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four' ]

Handling Multiple Consecutive Separators

When dealing with multiple consecutive separators, filter() becomes essential:

let messyString = "--word1---word2--word3-";
console.log("Messy string:", messyString);
console.log("Split result:", messyString.split('-').filter(value => value));

Messy string: --word1---word2--word3-
Split result: [ 'word1', 'word2', 'word3' ]

Conclusion

Use string.split('separator').filter(value => value) to split strings and automatically remove empty elements. This approach handles edge cases like leading, trailing, or consecutive separators effectively.