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JS References

JavaScript Objects HTML DOM Objects


JavaScript String Methods


String methods help you to work with strings.


String Methods and Properties

Primitive values, like "John Doe", cannot have properties or methods (because they are not objects).

But with JavaScript, methods and properties are also available to primitive values, because JavaScript treats primitive values as objects when executing methods and properties.


JavaScript String Length

The length property returns the length of a string:

Example

let txt = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
let length = txt.length;
Try it Yourself »

Extracting String Parts

There are 3 methods for extracting a part of a string:

  • slice(start, end)
  • substring(start, end)
  • substr(start, length)

JavaScript String slice()

slice() extracts a part of a string and returns the extracted part in a new string.

The method takes 2 parameters: the start position, and the end position (end not included).

Example

Slice out a portion of a string from position 7 to position 13 (13 not included):

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.slice(7, 13);
Try it Yourself »

Note

JavaScript counts positions from zero.

First position is 0.

Second position is 1.

If a parameter is negative, the position is counted from the end of the string.

This example slices out a portion of a string from position -12 to position -6:

Example

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.slice(-12, -6);
Try it Yourself »

If you omit the second parameter, the method will slice out the rest of the string:

Example

let part = str.slice(7);
Try it Yourself »

or, counting from the end:

Example

let part = str.slice(-12);
Try it Yourself »


JavaScript String substring()

substring() is similar to slice().

The difference is that start and end values less than 0 are treated as 0 in substring().

Example

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.substring(7, 13);
Try it Yourself »

If you omit the second parameter, substring() will slice out the rest of the string.


JavaScript String substr()

substr() is similar to slice().

The difference is that the second parameter specifies the length of the extracted part.

Example

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.substr(7, 6);
Try it Yourself »

If you omit the second parameter, substr() will slice out the rest of the string.

Example

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.substr(7);
Try it Yourself »

If the first parameter is negative, the position counts from the end of the string.

Example

let str = "Apple, Banana, Kiwi";
let part = str.substr(-4);
Try it Yourself »

Replacing String Content

The replace() method replaces a specified value with another value in a string:

Example

let text = "Please visit Microsoft!";
let newText = text.replace("Microsoft", "W3Schools");
Try it Yourself »

Note

The replace() method does not change the string it is called on.

The replace() method returns a new string.

The replace() method replaces only the first match

If you want to replace all matches, use a regular expression with the /g flag set. See examples below.

By default, the replace() method replaces only the first match:

Example

let text = "Please visit Microsoft and Microsoft!";
let newText = text.replace("Microsoft", "W3Schools");

Try it Yourself »

By default, the replace() method is case sensitive. Writing MICROSOFT (with upper-case) will not work:

Example

let text = "Please visit Microsoft!";
let newText = text.replace("MICROSOFT", "W3Schools");

Try it Yourself »

To replace case insensitive, use a regular expression with an /i flag (insensitive):

Example

let text = "Please visit Microsoft!";
let newText = text.replace(/MICROSOFT/i, "W3Schools");

Try it Yourself »

Note

Regular expressions are written without quotes.

To replace all matches, use a regular expression with a /g flag (global match):

Example

let text = "Please visit Microsoft and Microsoft!";
let newText = text.replace(/Microsoft/g, "W3Schools");

Try it Yourself »

Note

You will learn a lot more about regular expressions in the chapter JavaScript Regular Expressions.


Converting to Upper and Lower Case

A string is converted to upper case with toUpperCase():

A string is converted to lower case with toLowerCase():


JavaScript String toUpperCase()

Example

let text1 = "Hello World!";
let text2 = text1.toUpperCase();
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String toLowerCase()

Example

let text1 = "Hello World!";       // String
let text2 = text1.toLowerCase();  // text2 is text1 converted to lower
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String concat()

concat() joins two or more strings:

Example

let text1 = "Hello";
let text2 = "World";
let text3 = text1.concat(" ", text2);
Try it Yourself »

The concat() method can be used instead of the plus operator. These two lines do the same:

Example

text = "Hello" + " " + "World!";
text = "Hello".concat(" ", "World!");

Note

All string methods return a new string. They don't modify the original string.

Formally said:

Strings are immutable: Strings cannot be changed, only replaced.


JavaScript String trim()

The trim() method removes whitespace from both sides of a string:

Example

let text1 = "      Hello World!      ";
let text2 = text1.trim();
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String trimStart()

ECMAScript 2019 added the String method trimStart() to JavaScript.

The trimStart() method works like trim(), but removes whitespace only from the start of a string.

Example

let text1 = "     Hello World!     ";
let text2 = text1.trimStart();
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String trimStart() is supported in all browsers since January 2020:

Chrome 66 Edge 79 Firefox 61 Safari 12 Opera 50
Apr 2018 Jan 2020 Jun 2018 Sep 2018 May 2018

JavaScript String trimEnd()

ECMAScript 2019 added the String method trimEnd() to JavaScript.

The trimEnd() method works like trim(), but removes whitespace only from the end of a string.

Example

let text1 = "     Hello World!     ";
let text2 = text1.trimEnd();
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String trimEnd() is supported in all browsers since January 2020:

Chrome 66 Edge 79 Firefox 61 Safari 12 Opera 50
Apr 2018 Jan 2020 Jun 2018 Sep 2018 May 2018

JavaScript String Padding

ECMAScript 2017 added two String methods: padStart() and padEnd() to support padding at the beginning and at the end of a string.


JavaScript String padStart()

The padStart() method pads a string with another string:

Example

let text = "5";
let padded = text.padStart(4,"x");
Try it Yourself »

Example

let text = "5";
let padded = text.padStart(4,"0");
Try it Yourself »

Note

The padStart() method is a string method.

To pad a number, convert the number to a string first.

See the example below.

Example

let numb = 5;
let text = numb.toString();
let padded = text.padStart(4,"0");
Try it Yourself »

Browser Support

padStart() is an ECMAScript 2017 feature.

It is supported in all modern browsers:

Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

padStart() is not supported in Internet Explorer.


JavaScript String padEnd()

The padEnd() method pads a string with another string:

Example

let text = "5";
let padded = text.padEnd(4,"x");
Try it Yourself »

Example

let text = "5";
let padded = text.padEnd(4,"0");
Try it Yourself »

Note

The padEnd() method is a string method.

To pad a number, convert the number to a string first.

See the example below.

Example

let numb = 5;
let text = numb.toString();
let padded = text.padEnd(4,"0");
Try it Yourself »

Browser Support

padEnd() is an ECMAScript 2017 feature.

It is supported in all modern browsers:

Chrome Edge Firefox Safari Opera
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

padEnd() is not supported in Internet Explorer.


Extracting String Characters

There are 3 methods for extracting string characters:

  • charAt(position)
  • charCodeAt(position)
  • Property access [ ]

JavaScript String charAt()

The charAt() method returns the character at a specified index (position) in a string:

Example

let text = "HELLO WORLD";
let char = text.charAt(0);
Try it Yourself »

JavaScript String charCodeAt()

The charCodeAt() method returns the unicode of the character at a specified index in a string:

The method returns a UTF-16 code (an integer between 0 and 65535).

Example

let text = "HELLO WORLD";
let char = text.charCodeAt(0);
Try it Yourself »

Property Access

ECMAScript 5 (2009) allows property access [ ] on strings:

Example

let text = "HELLO WORLD";
let char = text[0];
Try it Yourself »

Note

Property access might be a little unpredictable:

  • It makes strings look like arrays (but they are not)
  • If no character is found, [ ] returns undefined, while charAt() returns an empty string.
  • It is read only. str[0] = "A" gives no error (but does not work!)

Example

let text = "HELLO WORLD";
text[0] = "A";    // Gives no error, but does not work
Try it Yourself »

Converting a String to an Array

If you want to work with a string as an array, you can convert it to an array.

JavaScript String split()

A string can be converted to an array with the split() method:

Example

text.split(",")    // Split on commas
text.split(" ")    // Split on spaces
text.split("|")    // Split on pipe
Try it Yourself »

If the separator is omitted, the returned array will contain the whole string in index [0].

If the separator is "", the returned array will be an array of single characters:

Example

text.split("")
Try it Yourself »

Complete String Reference

For a complete String reference, go to our:

Complete JavaScript String Reference.

The reference contains descriptions and examples of all string properties and methods.

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Convert the text into an UPPERCASE text:

let txt = "Hello World!";
txt = txt.;

Start the Exercise