Strip excess white space from a complex string using Javascript

Question

Strip excess white space from a complex string using Javascript

I have the following sets of strings:

14/04/22 10:45:20 12.08N 87.65W 15.0 2.9ML Frente a Corinto
14/04/21 11:05:34 12.10N 87.70W 140.0 3.5MC Cerca de Masachapa
14/04/22 09:00:09  12.35N  86.44W  12.4  1.3ML Cerca del volcan Momotombo
14/04/21 23:33:37  12.35N  86.63W   7.1  1.0ML SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote

Now, I am seeking help to transform them into this format:

14/04/22-10:45:20-12.08N-87.65W-15.0-2.9ML-Frente a Corinto
14/04/21-11:05:34-12.10N-87.70W-140.0-3.5MC-Cerca de Masachapa
14/04/22-09:00:09-12.35N-86.44W-12.4-1.3ML-Cerca del volcan Momotombo
14/04/21-23:33:37-12.35N-86.63W-7.1-1.0ML-SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote

If anyone can assist me in achieving this using Regular Expressions in JavaScript, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

PS. Edited for clarification. Specifically, I aim to replace all spaces with "-", excluding those spaces before a letter, and also replacing the space before the first occurrence of a letter at the beginning of each word. Please refer to my example above for better understanding of my requirements.

javascript regex

Answer 1

Answer №1

To implement lookahead regex, you can follow this example:

var str = '14/04/21 23:33:37  12.35N  86.63W   7.1  1.0ML SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote';

var result = str.replace(/ +(?![A-Za-z])/g, '-').replace(/ (?=[a-zA-Z])/, '-');
//=> 14/04/21-23:33:37-12.35N-86.63W-7.1-1.0ML-SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote

Answer 2

To implement lookahead regex, you can follow this example:

var str = '14/04/21 23:33:37  12.35N  86.63W   7.1  1.0ML SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote';

var result = str.replace(/ +(?![A-Za-z])/g, '-').replace(/ (?=[a-zA-Z])/, '-');
//=> 14/04/21-23:33:37-12.35N-86.63W-7.1-1.0ML-SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote

Answer 3

Answer №2

Is this what you're looking for? Pretty straightforward. This code snippet will replace the first space followed by a number with a hyphen in the given string:

"22/10/21 08:30:12 15.45S 120.67E 8.0 3.5ML Near Broome".replace(/\s(?=\d)/, '-').replace(/ /, '-')
"22/10/21-08:30:12-15.45S-120.67E-8.0-3.5ML-Near Broome"

Answer 4

Is this what you're looking for? Pretty straightforward. This code snippet will replace the first space followed by a number with a hyphen in the given string:

"22/10/21 08:30:12 15.45S 120.67E 8.0 3.5ML Near Broome".replace(/\s(?=\d)/, '-').replace(/ /, '-')
"22/10/21-08:30:12-15.45S-120.67E-8.0-3.5ML-Near Broome"

Answer 5

Answer №3

If you're finding that regex alone isn't giving you the results you need, this code could be just what you're looking for. We use regex to identify any string that contains numbers, as they are the constant in the data. We then store all the data in a temporary array and generate the desired output once it's complete.

function formatString(str) {
    var ss = str.split(' ');
    var listItems = [];
    var listStrings = [];
    var finalStringInt = "";
    var finalStringStr = "";

    for (var t = 0; t < ss.length; t ++) {
        var matchNumer = ss[t].match(/\d+/g);
        if(matchNumer != null){
            listItems.push(ss[t]);
        } else {
            listStrings.push(ss[t]);
        }

    }
    for (var sx = 0; sx < listItems.length; sx++) {
        finalStringInt += listItems[sx]+"-";
    }

    for (var xx = 0; xx < listStrings.length; xx++) {
        finalStringStr += listStrings[xx]+" ";
    }

    return finalStringInt.trim() + finalStringStr.trim(); 
}

var s="14/04/21 23:33:37  12.35N  86.63W   7.1  1.0ML SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote";
console.log(formatString(s));

Desired Output:

14/04/22-10:45:20-12.08N-87.65W-15.0-2.9ML-Frente a Corinto
14/04/22-09:00:09-12.35N-86.44W-12.4-1.3ML-Cerca del volcan Momotombo

Answer 6

If you're finding that regex alone isn't giving you the results you need, this code could be just what you're looking for. We use regex to identify any string that contains numbers, as they are the constant in the data. We then store all the data in a temporary array and generate the desired output once it's complete.

function formatString(str) {
    var ss = str.split(' ');
    var listItems = [];
    var listStrings = [];
    var finalStringInt = "";
    var finalStringStr = "";

    for (var t = 0; t < ss.length; t ++) {
        var matchNumer = ss[t].match(/\d+/g);
        if(matchNumer != null){
            listItems.push(ss[t]);
        } else {
            listStrings.push(ss[t]);
        }

    }
    for (var sx = 0; sx < listItems.length; sx++) {
        finalStringInt += listItems[sx]+"-";
    }

    for (var xx = 0; xx < listStrings.length; xx++) {
        finalStringStr += listStrings[xx]+" ";
    }

    return finalStringInt.trim() + finalStringStr.trim(); 
}

var s="14/04/21 23:33:37  12.35N  86.63W   7.1  1.0ML SO de La Paz Centro/Nagarote";
console.log(formatString(s));

Desired Output:

14/04/22-10:45:20-12.08N-87.65W-15.0-2.9ML-Frente a Corinto
14/04/22-09:00:09-12.35N-86.44W-12.4-1.3ML-Cerca del volcan Momotombo

Answer 7

Answer №4

Avoid using regular expressions completely:

let data = "14/04/22 10:45:20 12.08N 87.65W 15.0 2.9ML Frente a Corinto";
data = data.split(' ', 6).join('-');
console.log(data);

result:

14/04/22-10:45:20-12.08N-87.65W-15.0-2.9ML

This code snippet will substitute the first six spaces in the input string.

Answer 8

Avoid using regular expressions completely:

let data = "14/04/22 10:45:20 12.08N 87.65W 15.0 2.9ML Frente a Corinto";
data = data.split(' ', 6).join('-');
console.log(data);

result:

14/04/22-10:45:20-12.08N-87.65W-15.0-2.9ML

This code snippet will substitute the first six spaces in the input string.

Strip excess white space from a complex string using Javascript

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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