What I need to do is make this function to where it splits each part of the string entered, and then puts pig latin on each word, meaning it adds ay at the end of each word. Here's what I have so far:

function pigLatin(whatWeTitle) {

            var alertThis = " ";
            var splitArray = whatWeTitle.split(" ");

            for ( i = 0; i < splitArray.length; i++) {
                alertThis = makeSentenceCase(splitArray[i]) + " ";
                var newWord3 = splitArray.substring(1, whatWeTitle.length) + newWord + 'ay';
                alert(newWord3);

            }
        }

Right now, it just takes the first letter of the string and adds it to the end. It doesn't change each word to pig latin, just the whole phrase. I was wondering of anyone could help me with this. THanks.

What I need to do is make this function to where it splits each part of the string entered, and then puts pig latin on each word, meaning it adds ay at the end of each word. Here's what I have so far:

function pigLatin(whatWeTitle) {

            var alertThis = " ";
            var splitArray = whatWeTitle.split(" ");

            for ( i = 0; i < splitArray.length; i++) {
                alertThis = makeSentenceCase(splitArray[i]) + " ";
                var newWord3 = splitArray.substring(1, whatWeTitle.length) + newWord + 'ay';
                alert(newWord3);

            }
        }

Right now, it just takes the first letter of the string and adds it to the end. It doesn't change each word to pig latin, just the whole phrase. I was wondering of anyone could help me with this. THanks.

• javascript
• arrays
• methods
• split

• 1 I don't mean to assume, but should this maybe be tagged "homework"? That tag exists so that the people giving you your answers know to give a more detailed explanation of the internal goings on. – Chris Sobolewski Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 20:16
• Remember the rules of Pig Latin. – user1945782 Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 20:16
• @ChrisSobolewski This tag has been removed and should not be used. – Denys Séguret Commented Mar 19, 2013 at 20:17

3 Answers 3

You need to use [i] to get items of your array :

 var word = splitArray[i];
 var newWord3 = word.substring(1,word.length) + word[0]  + 'ay';

The best, if you want to end up with the whole new sentence, is to change each word an join them at the end :

  var splitArray = whatWeTitle.split(" ");
  for ( i = 0; i < splitArray.length; i++) {
      var word = splitArray[i];
      splitArray[i] = word.substring(1,word.length) + word[0]  + 'ay';
  }
  var newSentence = splitArray.join(' ');
  alert(newSentence);

If you test a little, you'll see this algorithm doesn't like the dots or ma in your sentence. If you want something stronger, you'd need a regular expression, for example like this :

var newSentence = whatWeTitle.replace(/[^\. ,]+/g, function(word){
   return word.slice(1) + word[0]  + 'ay';
});
alert(newSentence);

This works by replacing in place the words in the text, using a function to transform each word.

Something like this ?

function pigLatin(whatWeTitle) {
    var alertThis = " ";
    var splitArray = whatWeTitle.split(" ");
    var finalString = "";
    for ( i = 0; i < splitArray.length; i++) {
        finalString += splitArray[i]+ "ay "; 
        }
    alert(finalString);
}

pigLatin("this is a test");

You probably want to split off the first consonant values and then append them along with 'ay'.

I would use a regex to acplish this. Here is a JSFiddle showing an example.

First part is split the word

var words = text.split(" ");

Next part is to piglatinify™ each word

words = words.map(function(word){ return pigLatinifyWord(word);});

This is the piglatinify™ function

function pigLatinifyWord(word){

    var result;

    var specialMatches = word.match(/(\W|\D)+$/);

    var specialChars;
    if(specialMatches && specialMatches.length >= 0){
        var specialIndex = word.indexOf(specialMatches[0]);
        specialChars = word.slice(specialIndex);
        word = word.substr(0, specialIndex);
    }

    var i = word.search(/^[^aeiou]/);

    if(i >= 0){
        result = word.slice(i+1) + word.slice(0, i+1) + "ay";
    }
    else{
        result = word + "ay";
    }

    if(specialChars){
        result += specialChars;
    }

    return result;
}

Update JSFiddle example now includes handling for non-word non-digit characters