How can I convert a comma-separated string to an array?

Question

I have a comma-separated string that I want to convert into an array, so I can loop through it.

Is there anything built-in to do this?

For example, I have this

Answer 1

Note that the following:

var a = "";
var x = new Array();
x = a.split(",");
alert(x.length);

will alert 1

Answer 2

let str = "January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December"

let arr = str.split(',');

it will result:

["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

and if you want to convert following to:

["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"]

this:

"January,February,March,April,May,June,July,August,September,October,November,December";

use:

str = arr.join(',')

Answer 3

Here is a function that will convert a string to an array, even if there is only one item in the list (no separator character):

function listToAray(fullString, separator) {
  var fullArray = [];

  if (fullString !== undefined) {
    if (fullString.indexOf(separator) == -1) {
      fullAray.push(fullString);
    } else {
      fullArray = fullString.split(separator);
    }
  }

  return fullArray;
}

Use it like this:

var myString = 'alpha,bravo,charlie,delta';
var myArray = listToArray(myString, ',');
myArray[2]; // charlie

var yourString = 'echo';
var yourArray = listToArray(yourString, ',');
yourArray[0]; // echo

I created this function because split throws out an error if there isn't any separator character in the string (only one item).