This ought to be pretty simple, maybe use a regex but I would think there is an easier - faster way. Currently I make this work by using a couple of splits, but that sure seems like a poor method.

Example string:

on Jun 09, 2009. Tagged:

What I need to do is turn that date (June 09, 2009) into three strings (Jun, 09, 2009). Obviously this date may vary to things like May 25, 2011. I assume using the two outside strings which would be consistent ("on " and ". Tagged") and searching based on them is the best method. The month will always be three letters.

What would be a better way to do this via Javascript?

Thanks!

This ought to be pretty simple, maybe use a regex but I would think there is an easier - faster way. Currently I make this work by using a couple of splits, but that sure seems like a poor method.

Example string:

on Jun 09, 2009. Tagged:

What I need to do is turn that date (June 09, 2009) into three strings (Jun, 09, 2009). Obviously this date may vary to things like May 25, 2011. I assume using the two outside strings which would be consistent ("on " and ". Tagged") and searching based on them is the best method. The month will always be three letters.

What would be a better way to do this via Javascript?

Thanks!

• javascript
• string

• How fixed is the format? Will the month always be the fourth, fifth, and sixth characters? Will the date always be the eighth and ninth characters? Will the year always be the twelfth through fifteenth characters? – Nosredna Commented Jun 24, 2009 at 5:40
• Also, how do you want the strings returned? In an array? Like ["Jun","09","2009"]? – Nosredna Commented Jun 24, 2009 at 5:42
• No, the position of the date can move around and there is more to the string before the "on" and after the "tagged". The regex's shown below work well for finding the right data. I'd like to insert the three found string pieces into an array. – Christopher Cooper Commented Jun 24, 2009 at 5:53

3 Answers 3

You could use a regular expression:

var match = str.match(/on (\w+) (\d{2}), (\d{4})\. Tagged/);
// match = ["on Jun 09, 2009. Tagged", "Jun", "09", "2009"]

You could do it using substring mands, but a regex would be simpler and less prone to breaking if the source data ever changed.

You can use this regex:

 var input = "on Jun 09, 2009 Tagged:";
 var date = input.match(/([a-zA-Z]{3}) (\d{1,2}), (\d{4})/);
 // date = ["Jun 09, 2009", "Jun", "09", "2009"];
 var simpledate = date.slice(1);
 // simpledate = ["Jun", "09", "2009"];

When using RegEx's, I find this site to be extremely useful: http://www.regular-expressions.info/javascriptexample.html

It provides a JavaScript regex tester that's very handy! You can plug in same data and a regex and run it and see the matched data. It's helped me to understand regular expressions a lot better. For example, you can see that my regex and the other answers are different but acplish the same thing.

You could search the string using search/slice... It's not as efficient as RegEx.

<script type="text/javascript">
  function sBs(ss1,ss2,fs) {
    ss1 = fs.search(ss1) + ss1.length; // continue *after* the first substring
    ss2 = fs.search(ss2); //grab the position of the beginning of substring2
    var sbsResult = fs.slice(ss1,ss2); 
    alert(sbsResult);
}
</script>
<a href="#" onClick="sBs('a','b','a b c');">get substring!</a>