Syntax
str.split(separator, limit)Examples
Basic Splitting
Splitting a string on a delimiter character.
const csv = "apple,banana,cherry";
console.log(csv.split(",")); // ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
const sentence = "The quick brown fox";
console.log(sentence.split(" ")); // ["The", "quick", "brown", "fox"]
console.log("hello".split("")); // ["h", "e", "l", "l", "o"] - split into charactersSplitting with a Regex and Limit
Using a pattern to split on multiple possible delimiters, and limiting results.
const messy = "one, two, three,four";
console.log(messy.split(/,\s*/)); // ["one", "two", "three", "four"]
const limited = "a-b-c-d".split("-", 2);
console.log(limited); // ["a", "b"] - stops after 2 elementsBest practices
- Use split("") only for short strings when you specifically need individual characters - it does not correctly handle some Unicode characters
- Use a regex separator when the delimiter pattern is inconsistent, like extra whitespace around commas
- Combine split() and join() for quick string transformations, like reversing word order in a sentence
- Remember the limit argument truncates the result array - it does not stop the splitting logic from continuing internally
At a glance
- Purpose
- Application logic and interaction
- File extension
- .js · .mjs
- Runs in
- Browsers and JavaScript runtimes
- Usually used with
- HTML, CSS and Web APIs
Specifications & further reading
Related JavaScript documentation
String Basics: length, charAt(), at()
Strings are immutable sequences of characters - every string method returns a new string rather than modifying the original. The length property gives the character count. charAt() returns the character at a given index, while the newer at() method also supports negative indices to count from the end.slice(), substring(), substr()
These three methods extract a portion of a string as a new string. slice() and substring() are similar, but slice() accepts negative indices (counting from the end) while substring() treats negative values as 0 and swaps arguments if start is greater than end. substr() (deprecated) uses a start index and a length rather than an end index.indexOf(), includes(), startsWith(), endsWith()
These methods search within a string for a substring. indexOf() returns the position of the first match (or -1). includes() returns a simple true/false. startsWith() and endsWith() check specifically whether the string begins or ends with a given substring. All are case-sensitive.replace() and replaceAll()
replace() returns a new string with the first match of a pattern replaced by a new value - or all matches, if the pattern is a regex with the global (g) flag. replaceAll(), introduced in ES2021, always replaces every occurrence without needing a regex, making simple find-and-replace-all operations more straightforward.
Strings are immutable sequences of characters - every string method returns a new string rather than modifying the original. The length property gives the character count. charAt() returns the character at a given index, while the newer at() method also supports negative indices to count from the end.slice(), substring(), substr()
These three methods extract a portion of a string as a new string. slice() and substring() are similar, but slice() accepts negative indices (counting from the end) while substring() treats negative values as 0 and swaps arguments if start is greater than end. substr() (deprecated) uses a start index and a length rather than an end index.indexOf(), includes(), startsWith(), endsWith()
These methods search within a string for a substring. indexOf() returns the position of the first match (or -1). includes() returns a simple true/false. startsWith() and endsWith() check specifically whether the string begins or ends with a given substring. All are case-sensitive.replace() and replaceAll()
replace() returns a new string with the first match of a pattern replaced by a new value - or all matches, if the pattern is a regex with the global (g) flag. replaceAll(), introduced in ES2021, always replaces every occurrence without needing a regex, making simple find-and-replace-all operations more straightforward.