Split string once in javascript?

Question

How can I split a string only once, i.e. make 1|Ceci n\'est pas une pipe: | Oui parse to: [\"1\", \"Ceci n\'est pas une pipe: | Oui\"]?

The

Answer 1

one liner and imo, simpler:

var str = 'I | am super | cool | yea!';
str.split('|').slice(1).join('|');

This returns " am super | cool | yea!"

Answer 2

You'd want to use String.indexOf('|') to get the index of the first occurrence of '|'.

var i = s.indexOf('|');
var splits = [s.slice(0,i), s.slice(i+1)];

Answer 3

This one's a little longer, but it works like I believe limit should:

function split_limit(inString, separator, limit){
    var ary = inString.split(separator);
    var aryOut = ary.slice(0, limit - 1);
    if(ary[limit - 1]){
        aryOut.push(ary.slice(limit - 1).join(separator));
    }
    return aryOut;
}
console.log(split_limit("1|Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui","|", 1));
console.log(split_limit("1|Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui","|", 2));
console.log(split_limit("1|Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui","|", 3));
console.log(split_limit("1|Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui","|", 7));

https://jsfiddle.net/2gyxuo2j/

limit of Zero returns funny results, but in the name of efficiency, I left out the check for it. You can add this as the first line of the function if you need it:

if(limit < 1) return [];

Answer 4

Just as evil as most of the answers so far:

var splits = str.split('|');
splits.splice(1, splits.length - 1, splits.slice(1).join('|'));

Answer 5

ES6 syntax allows a different approach:

function splitOnce(s, on) {
   [first, ...rest] = s.split(on)
   return [first, rest.length > 0? rest.join(on) : null]
}

Which also handles the eventuality of the string not having a | by returning null rather than an empty string, which is more explicit.

splitOnce("1|Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui", "|")
>>> ["1", "Ceci n'est pas une pipe: | Oui"]

splitOnce("Celui-ci n'a pas de pipe symbol!", "|")
>>> ["Celui-ci n'a pas de pipe symbol!", null]

Pas de pipe? C'est null!

I added this reply primarily so I could make a pun on the pipe symbol, but also to show off es6 syntax - its amazing how many people still don't use it...

Answer 6

If the string doesn't contain the delimiter @NickCraver's solution will still return an array of two elements, the second being an empty string. I prefer the behavior to match that of split. That is, if the input string does not contain the delimiter return just an array with a single element.

var splitOnce = function(str, delim) {
    var components = str.split(delim);
    var result = [components.shift()];
    if(components.length) {
        result.push(components.join(delim));
    }
    return result;
};

splitOnce("a b c d", " "); // ["a", "b c d"]
splitOnce("a", " "); // ["a"]