I have a string like this.

var a="1:2:3:";

I want to split it with a.split(":") to remove the ":" colon character.

I want to get this as the result:

["1","2","3"]

But instead the result of a.split(":") is this:

["1","2","3",""]

I have a string like this.

var a="1:2:3:";

I want to split it with a.split(":") to remove the ":" colon character.

I want to get this as the result:

["1","2","3"]

But instead the result of a.split(":") is this:

["1","2","3",""]

• javascript

• Split does exactly what the name implies... in this case it split 3 and null. Remove the last colon – rlemon Commented Jul 4, 2012 at 0:17

3 Answers 3

Use this trim method to remove the trailing colon.

function TrimColon(text)
{
    return text.toString().replace(/^(.*?):*$/, '$1');
}

Then you can call it like this:

TrimColon(a).split(":")

If you wanted to you could of course make TrimColon a string prototype method, allowing you to do something like this:

a.TrimColon().split(":");

In case you'd like an explanation of the regex used: Go here

Before parsing such string you should strip colons from the beginning and the end of the string:

a.replace(/(^:)|(:$)/g, '').split(":")

If you don't want to do it with RegEx as in the other answers, you can choose the one below and use it.

Only remove empty strings

["1","2","3",""].filter(String)
// ['1', '2', '3']

["1","2","3","", 123].filter(String)
// ['1', '2', '3', 123]

["1","2","3","", 123, null, undefined].filter(String)
// ['1', '2', '3', 123, null, undefined]

// Function
function RemoveEmptyString(arr) {
  if (Array.isArray(arr))
    return arr.filter(String);
  else
    return [];
}
RemoveEmptyString(["1","2","3",""])
// ["1","2","3"];

// Prototype
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'removeEmptyStrings', {
  value: function () {
    return this.filter(String);
  }
});
["1","2","3", ""].removeEmptyStrings()
// ["1","2","3"]

Only remove unvalid elements

["1","2","3",""].filter(Value => Value)
// ['1', '2', '3']

["1","2","3","", 123].filter(Value => Value)
// ['1', '2', '3', 123]

["1","2","3","", 123, null, undefined].filter(Value => Value)
// ['1', '2', '3', 123]

// Function
function RemoveEmptyString(arr) {
  if (Array.isArray(arr))
    return arr.filter(Value => Value);
  else
    return [];
}
RemoveEmptyString(["1","2","3","", 123, null, undefined])
// ["1","2","3", 123]
// Prototype
Object.defineProperty(Array.prototype, 'removeEmptyStrings', {
  value: function () {
    return this.filter(Value => Value);
  }
});
["1","2","3","", 123, null, undefined].removeEmptyStrings()
// ["1","2","3", 123]