CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascript
tenub
tenub

Reputation: 3446

Remove Whitespace-only Array Elements

Since using array.splice modifies the array in-place, how can I remove all whitespace-only elements from an array without throwing an error? With PHP we have preg_grep but I am lost as to how and do this correctly in JS.

The following will not work because of above reason:

for (var i=0, l=src.length; i<l; i++) {

    if (src[i].match(/^[\s\t]{2,}$/) !== null) src.splice(i, 1);

}

Error:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot call method 'match' of undefined

Upvotes: 20

Views: 64714

Answers (9)

VU TIEN LUONG
VU TIEN LUONG

Reputation: 1

function clearSpace(arr){
    for (var key in arr) {
        if (arr[key] == "") {
            arr.splice(key, 1)
            clearSpace(arr)
        }
    }
}
var arr = ["","a","b","",""]
clearSpace(arr)

//I hope this helps you!!
//Vu Tien Luong - 3GTEL

Upvotes: 0

Seshagiri Batsala
Seshagiri Batsala

Reputation: 1

Here's another approach.

var data = JSON.parse(arrayval.split(/\s/).join(''));

Upvotes: 0

Surojit Paul
Surojit Paul

Reputation: 1272

const words = ['spray', 'limit', 'elite', 'exuberant', ' ', ''];

const result = words.filter(word => word.trim().length > 0);

console.log(result);

Upvotes: 4

Antolin Bernas
Antolin Bernas

Reputation: 312

Just simply do this example 

// this is you array 
let array = ["foo","bar","",""]

// remove blanks in array 
let array_new_value = array.join(" ").trim().split(' ');

// Print to know if really works 
console.log(array_new_value);

I hope this helps you!!

Upvotes: 1

Gosha
Gosha

Reputation: 51

a="remove white spaces"

a.split(' ').join('').split('');

It returns an array of all characters in {a="remove white spaces"} with no 'space' character.

You can test the output separately for each method: split() and join().

Upvotes: 3

canon
canon

Reputation: 41675

You removed an item from the array which reduced the array's length. Your loop continued, skipped some indexes (those which were down-shifted into the removed index), and eventually attempted to access an index outside of the new range.

Try this instead:

var src = ["1"," ","2","3"];
var i = src.length;    
while(i--) !/\S/.test(src[i]) && src.splice(i, 1);
console.log(src);

Upvotes: 2

liron_hazan
liron_hazan

Reputation: 1546

Another filter based variation - reusable (function) 

    function removeWhiteSpaceFromArray(array){
    return array.filter((item) => item != ' ');
}

Upvotes: 5

Adrian Lynch
Adrian Lynch

Reputation: 8494

And for a new generation (namely ES2015):

['1', ' ', 'c'].filter(item => item.trim() !== '')

More on trim()

Upvotes: 0

Paul Draper
Paul Draper

Reputation: 83245

A better way to "remove whitespace-only elements from an array".

var array = ['1', ' ', 'c'];

array = array.filter(function(str) {
    return /\S/.test(str);
});

Explanation:

Array.prototype.filter returns a new array, containing only the elements for which the function returns true (or a truthy value).

/\S/ is a regex that matches a non-whitespace character. /\S/.test(str) returns whether str has a non-whitespace character.

Upvotes: 34

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