Remove everything after specific Character in JavaScript

Remove everything after specific Character #

To remove everything after a specific character in a string:

1. Call the split() method on the string, passing it the character as a parameter.
2. The split method returns an array containing two substrings, split on the provided character.
3. Access the array element at index 0 to get everything before the character.

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const str = 'BMW[1996]';

const removed = str.split('[')[0];
console.log(removed); // 👉️ BMW

We use the String.split method to split on the bracket [ character.

The split method returns an array of 2 substrings, split on the supplied character.

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const str = 'BMW[1996]';

const split = str.split('[');
console.log(split) // 👉️ ['BMW', '1996]'

We only need the substring before the specified character, so we access the array at index 0.

An alternative approach is to use the slice method.

To remove everything after a specific character in a string:

1. Call the slice() method passing it a starting index of 0 and an end index equal to the character's index in the string.
2. The slice method returns a new string containing a part of the original string.

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const str = 'BMW[1996]';

const removed = str.slice(0, str.indexOf('['));
console.log(removed); // BMW

We pass the following parameters to the String.slice method:

1. start index - the index of the first character to be included in the returned string
2. end index - go up to, but not including this index

The String.indexOf method returns the index of the provided character in the string or -1 if the character was not found in the string.

If you're unsure, whether the string contains the specific character, use an if statement to verify.

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let removed;

const index = str.indexOf('[');

if (index !== -1) {
  removed = str.slice(0, index);
}

console.log(removed); // 👉️ BMW

In the code snippet we only assign a string to the removed variable if we're sure that the character was found in the string.

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const str = 'BMW[abc][1996]';

const removed = str.slice(0, str.lastIndexOf('['));
console.log(removed); // 👉️ BMW[abc]

We have two sets of brackets in our string and we only want to remove everything after the last set of brackets.

The String.lastIndexOf method returns the index of the last occurrence of the provided character or -1 if the character is not contained in the string.

Further Reading #

• Check if String contains any Letter in JavaScript
• Check if String contains Special Characters in JavaScript
• Check if String starts with Substring in JavaScript
• Check if String ends with Substring in JavaScript
• Check if String starts with one of Multiple Values in JS
• How to count the words in a String in JavaScript
• Check if String contains only Latin Letters in JavaScript
• Check if a String is all Uppercase in JavaScript
• Check if First Letter of String is Uppercase in JavaScript
• Get first letter of each Word in a String in JavaScript
• Remove the Last Word from a String using JavaScript