How to Split a String into Multiple Variables in JavaScript

General Discussions
1

How can I parse string in Javascript to split a variable into multiple other variables? For example, if I have the following:

var coolVar = '123-abc-itchy-knee';

How can I split this into four variables, such that:

array[0] is 123
array[1] is ABC

Or alternatively, how can I assign each part of the string to separate variables, like:

var1 == 123  
var2 == ABC

What is the best way to split a JavaScript string?

2

I’ve been working with JavaScript for a while, and one of the simplest ways to go about this is by using the split() method.* This is a built-in JavaScript method that lets you split a string into an array based on a specified delimiter. In your case, you can split using the hyphen - as the delimiter. Here’s how:


var coolVar = '123-abc-itchy-knee';

var array = coolVar.split('-'); // Split the string into an array

console.log(array[0]); // Output: 123

console.log(array[1]); // Output: abc

This method is straightforward and easy to understand if you just want to split and parse the string in JavaScript.

3

Building on that approach, if you want to directly assign the split parts to separate variables, you can use destructuring.* Destructuring assignment is really clean and concise for this task. Here’s an example of how to do it:


var coolVar = '123-abc-itchy-knee';

var [var1, var2, var3, var4] = coolVar.split('-'); // Split and assign

console.log(var1); // Output: 123

console.log(var2); // Output: abc

It’s a great way to parse the string in JavaScript into multiple variables in one line of code. Destructuring makes the code look clean and helps you avoid manually indexing the array.

4

If you’re looking for more control over what gets extracted, consider using regular expressions.* The match() method can be powerful, especially when you want to capture specific patterns in your string. For example:

var coolVar = '123-abc-itchy-knee';
var matches = coolVar.match(/(\d+)-([a-z]+)/); // Match specific patterns

if (matches) {
    var var1 = matches[1]; // First captured group
    var var2 = matches[2]; // Second captured group

    console.log(var1); // Output: 123
    console.log(var2); // Output: abc
}

Using regex, you can parse the string in JavaScript based on specific patterns, giving you more flexibility in how you split and extract information.