Convert a string to a template string

Question

Is it possible to create a template string as a usual string

let a=\"b:${b}\";

an then convert it into a template string

le         


        

Answer 1

There are many good solutions posted here, but none yet which utilizes the ES6 String.raw method. Here is my contriubution. It has an important limitation in that it will only accept properties from a passed in object, meaning no code execution in the template will work.

function parseStringTemplate(str, obj) {
    let parts = str.split(/\$\{(?!\d)[\wæøåÆØÅ]*\}/);
    let args = str.match(/[^{\}]+(?=})/g) || [];
    let parameters = args.map(argument => obj[argument] || (obj[argument] === undefined ? "" : obj[argument]));
    return String.raw({ raw: parts }, ...parameters);
}

let template = "Hello, ${name}! Are you ${age} years old?";
let values = { name: "John Doe", age: 18 };

parseStringTemplate(template, values);
// output: Hello, John Doe! Are you 18 years old?

1. Split string into non-argument textual parts. See regex.
   parts: ["Hello, ", "! Are you ", " years old?"]
2. Split string into property names. Empty array if match fails.
   args: ["name", "age"]
3. Map parameters from obj by property name. Solution is limited by shallow one level mapping. Undefined values are substituted with an empty string, but other falsy values are accepted.
   parameters: ["John Doe", 18]
4. Utilize String.raw(...) and return result.

Answer 2

No, there is not a way to do this without dynamic code generation.

However, I have created a function which will turn a regular string into a function which can be provided with a map of values, using template strings internally.

Generate Template String Gist

/**
 * Produces a function which uses template strings to do simple interpolation from objects.
 * 
 * Usage:
 *    var makeMeKing = generateTemplateString('${name} is now the king of ${country}!');
 * 
 *    console.log(makeMeKing({ name: 'Bryan', country: 'Scotland'}));
 *    // Logs 'Bryan is now the king of Scotland!'
 */
var generateTemplateString = (function(){
    var cache = {};

    function generateTemplate(template){
        var fn = cache[template];

        if (!fn){
            // Replace ${expressions} (etc) with ${map.expressions}.

            var sanitized = template
                .replace(/\$\{([\s]*[^;\s\{]+[\s]*)\}/g, function(_, match){
                    return `\$\{map.${match.trim()}\}`;
                    })
                // Afterwards, replace anything that's not ${map.expressions}' (etc) with a blank string.
                .replace(/(\$\{(?!map\.)[^}]+\})/g, '');

            fn = Function('map', `return \`${sanitized}\``);
        }

        return fn;
    }

    return generateTemplate;
})();

Usage:

var kingMaker = generateTemplateString('${name} is king!');

console.log(kingMaker({name: 'Bryan'}));
// Logs 'Bryan is king!' to the console.

Hope this helps somebody. If you find a problem with the code, please be so kind as to update the Gist.

Answer 3

This solution works without ES6:

function render(template, opts) {
  return new Function(
    'return new Function (' + Object.keys(opts).reduce((args, arg) => args += '\'' + arg + '\',', '') + '\'return `' + template.replace(/(^|[^\\])'/g, '$1\\\'') + '`;\'' +
    ').apply(null, ' + JSON.stringify(Object.keys(opts).reduce((vals, key) => vals.push(opts[key]) && vals, [])) + ');'
  )();
}

render("hello ${ name }", {name:'mo'}); // "hello mo"

Note: the Function constructor is always created in the global scope, which could potentially cause global variables to be overwritten by the template, e.g. render("hello ${ someGlobalVar = 'some new value' }", {name:'mo'});

Answer 4

Similar to Daniel's answer (and s.meijer's gist) but more readable:

const regex = /\${[^{]+}/g;

export default function interpolate(template, variables, fallback) {
    return template.replace(regex, (match) => {
        const path = match.slice(2, -1).trim();
        return getObjPath(path, variables, fallback);
    });
}

//get the specified property or nested property of an object
function getObjPath(path, obj, fallback = '') {
    return path.split('.').reduce((res, key) => res[key] || fallback, obj);
}

Note: This slightly improves s.meijer's original, since it won't match things like ${foo{bar} (the regex only allows non-curly brace characters inside ${ and }).

---

UPDATE: I was asked for an example using this, so here you go:

const replacements = {
    name: 'Bob',
    age: 37
}

interpolate('My name is ${name}, and I am ${age}.', replacements)

Answer 5

You should try this tiny JS module, by Andrea Giammarchi, from github : https://github.com/WebReflection/backtick-template

/*! (C) 2017 Andrea Giammarchi - MIT Style License */
function template(fn, $str, $object) {'use strict';
  var
    stringify = JSON.stringify,
    hasTransformer = typeof fn === 'function',
    str = hasTransformer ? $str : fn,
    object = hasTransformer ? $object : $str,
    i = 0, length = str.length,
    strings = i < length ? [] : ['""'],
    values = hasTransformer ? [] : strings,
    open, close, counter
  ;
  while (i < length) {
    open = str.indexOf('${', i);
    if (-1 < open) {
      strings.push(stringify(str.slice(i, open)));
      open += 2;
      close = open;
      counter = 1;
      while (close < length) {
        switch (str.charAt(close++)) {
          case '}': counter -= 1; break;
          case '{': counter += 1; break;
        }
        if (counter < 1) {
          values.push('(' + str.slice(open, close - 1) + ')');
          break;
        }
      }
      i = close;
    } else {
      strings.push(stringify(str.slice(i)));
      i = length;
    }
  }
  if (hasTransformer) {
    str = 'function' + (Math.random() * 1e5 | 0);
    if (strings.length === values.length) strings.push('""');
    strings = [
      str,
      'with(this)return ' + str + '([' + strings + ']' + (
        values.length ? (',' + values.join(',')) : ''
      ) + ')'
    ];
  } else {
    strings = ['with(this)return ' + strings.join('+')];
  }
  return Function.apply(null, strings).apply(
    object,
    hasTransformer ? [fn] : []
  );
}

template.asMethod = function (fn, object) {'use strict';
  return typeof fn === 'function' ?
    template(fn, this, object) :
    template(this, fn);
};

Demo (all the following tests return true):

const info = 'template';
// just string
`some ${info}` === template('some ${info}', {info});

// passing through a transformer
transform `some ${info}` === template(transform, 'some ${info}', {info});

// using it as String method
String.prototype.template = template.asMethod;

`some ${info}` === 'some ${info}'.template({info});

transform `some ${info}` === 'some ${info}'.template(transform, {info});

Answer 6

Since we're reinventing the wheel on something that would be a lovely feature in javascript.

I use eval(), which is not secure, but javascript is not secure. I readily admit that I'm not excellent with javascript, but I had a need, and I needed an answer so I made one.

I chose to stylize my variables with an @ rather than an $, particularly because I want to use the multiline feature of literals without evaluating til it's ready. So variable syntax is @{OptionalObject.OptionalObjectN.VARIABLE_NAME}

I am no javascript expert, so I'd gladly take advice on improvement but...

var prsLiteral, prsRegex = /\@\{(.*?)(?!\@\{)\}/g
for(i = 0; i < myResultSet.length; i++) {
    prsLiteral = rt.replace(prsRegex,function (match,varname) {
        return eval(varname + "[" + i + "]");
        // you could instead use return eval(varname) if you're not looping.
    })
    console.log(prsLiteral);
}

A very simple implementation follows

myResultSet = {totalrecords: 2,
Name: ["Bob", "Stephanie"],
Age: [37,22]};

rt = `My name is @{myResultSet.Name}, and I am @{myResultSet.Age}.`

var prsLiteral, prsRegex = /\@\{(.*?)(?!\@\{)\}/g
for(i = 0; i < myResultSet.totalrecords; i++) {
    prsLiteral = rt.replace(prsRegex,function (match,varname) {
        return eval(varname + "[" + i + "]");
        // you could instead use return eval(varname) if you're not looping.
    })
    console.log(prsLiteral);
}

In my actual implementation, I choose to use @{{variable}}. One more set of braces. Absurdly unlikely to encounter that unexpectedly. The regex for that would look like /\@\{\{(.*?)(?!\@\{\{)\}\}/g

To make that easier to read

\@\{\{    # opening sequence, @{{ literally.
(.*?)     # capturing the variable name
          # ^ captures only until it reaches the closing sequence
(?!       # negative lookahead, making sure the following
          # ^ pattern is not found ahead of the current character
  \@\{\{  # same as opening sequence, if you change that, change this
)
\}\}      # closing sequence.

If you're not experienced with regex, a pretty safe rule is to escape every non-alphanumeric character, and don't ever needlessly escape letters as many escaped letters have special meaning to virtually all flavors of regex.