How to remove the extra spaces in a string?

Question

What function will turn this contains spaces into this contains spaces using javascript?

I've tried the following, using similar SO questions, but could not get this to work.

var string = " this contains   spaces ";

newString = string.replace(/\s+/g,''); // "thiscontainsspaces"
newString = string.replace(/ +/g,'');  //"thiscontainsspaces"

Is there a simple pure javascript way to accomplish this?

Look at using underscore.string, there are many clean methods like this that will help you out, does not require underscore. — adrian, Jun 07 '13 at 01:10

score 185 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 08 '13 at 05:01

185

You're close.

Remember that replace replaces the found text with the second argument. So:

newString = string.replace(/\s+/g,''); // "thiscontainsspaces"

Finds any number of sequential spaces and removes them. Try replacing them with a single space instead!

newString = string.replace(/\s+/g,' ').trim();

edited Jun 08 '13 at 05:01

d-_-b

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answered Jun 07 '13 at 01:04

Hamish

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thanks! that makes sense... btw this is missing a function to trim (first and last single spaces) :) – d-_-b Jun 07 '13 at 01:07
1

works perfectly even after 8 years LOL ;3 – Jan 28 '21 at 08:33

score 25 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 08 '13 at 04:30

25

string.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim()

edited Jun 08 '13 at 04:30

answered Jun 07 '13 at 01:04

Ye Liu

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basit raza · Answer 3 · 2022-01-31T19:11:27.377

17

Try this one, this will replace 2 or 2+ white spaces from string.

const string = " this contains   spaces ";    
string.replace(/\s{2,}/g, ' ').trim()

Output

this contains spaces

edited Jan 31 '22 at 19:11

answered Sep 18 '19 at 17:14

basit raza

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This will turn 2+ spaces into 0 space. You might want to change it to a single space (' ') instead of ('') – Dror Bar Aug 02 '21 at 14:14

d-_-b · Answer 4 · 2013-06-08T15:50:54.937

9

I figured out one way, but am curious if there is a better way...

string.replace(/\s+/g,' ').trim()

edited Jun 08 '13 at 15:50

answered Jun 07 '13 at 01:04

d-_-b

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convert to a byte array, manually iterate through it and output to a new byte array. Convert the new array to a string.... better? – dlamblin Jun 07 '13 at 01:11
This is pure JS, not jQuery. – Jun 08 '13 at 04:29

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 29 '20 at 18:21

6

I got the same problem and I fixed like this

Text = Text.replace(/ {1,}/g," ");
Text = Text.trim();

answered Jan 29 '20 at 18:21

Yhensel Benitez Tapia

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score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 27 '21 at 10:42

I think images always explain it's good, basically what you see that the regex \s meaning in regex is whitespace. the + says it's can be multiply times. /g symbol that it's looks globally (replace by default looks for the first occur without the /g added). and the trim will remove the last and first whitespaces if exists.

Finally, To remove extra whitespaces you will need this code:

newString = string.replace(/\s+/g,' ').trim();

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 19 '21 at 08:23

3

We can use the below approach to remove extra space in a sentence/word.

sentence.split(' ').filter(word => word).join(' ')

answered Sep 19 '21 at 08:23

Senthuran

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This one is pretty interesting too. I found relevant to note that this solution doesn't remove tabs or line breaks, unlike the `/\s+/g` regex. Also the filter could be `.filter(Boolean)`. – Daniel Mitre Sep 23 '21 at 17:23

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 28 '19 at 05:24

Raw Javascript Solution:

var str = '  k                                     g  alok   deshwal';
function removeMoreThanOneSpace() {
    String.prototype.removeSpaceByLength=function(index, length) {
        console.log("in remove", this.substr(0, index));
        return this.substr(0, index) + this.substr(length);
    }
    for(let i  = 0; i < str.length-1; i++) {
        if(str[i] === " " && str[i+1] === " ") {
            str = str.removeSpaceByLength(i, i+1);
            i = i-1;
        }
    }
    return str;
}
console.log(removeMoreThanOneSpace(str));

Involves extending native objects, which is considered an anti-pattern. — Belial, Jun 27 '20 at 21:28

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 20 '20 at 06:03

0

var s=" i am a student "
var r='';
console.log(s);
var i,j;
j=0;
for(k=0; s[k]!=undefined; k++);// to calculate the length of a string

for(i=0;i<k;i++){
if(s[i]!==' '){
for(;s[i]!==' ';i++){
r+=s[i];
}
r+=' ';
}
}
console.log(r);

answered Oct 20 '20 at 06:03

srinivasa rao chevala

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Please don't post only code as answer, but also provide an explanation what your code does and how it solves the problem of the question. Answers with an explanation are usually of higher quality, and are more likely to attract upvotes. – 54ka Oct 20 '20 at 06:08

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 18 '22 at 19:37


// Here my solution

const trimString = value => {

  const allStringElementsToArray = value.split(''); 
  // transform "abcd efgh" to ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd',' ','e', 'f','g','h']

  const allElementsSanitized = allStringElementsToArray.map(e => e.trim());
  // Remove all blank spaces from array

  const finalValue = allElementsSanitized.join('');
  // Transform the sanitized array ['a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h'] to 'abcdefgh'

  return finalValue;
}

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 12 '22 at 18:37

0

I have tried regex to solve this problem :

let temp=text.replace(/\s{2,}/g, ' ').trim() 
console.log(temp);

input="Plese complete your work on Time"

output="Please complete your work on Time"

answered Mar 12 '22 at 18:37

Alphonse Prakash

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score -1 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 21 '20 at 05:10

//This code remove extra spaces with out using "string objectives" 
      s="                 This Is   Working On      Functions  "
            console.log(s)
            final=""; 
            res='';
        function result(s) {
         for(var i=0;i<s.length;i++)
            {    
                if(!(final==""&&s[i]==" ")&&!(s[i]===" "&& s[i+1] ===" ")){ 
              final+=s[i]; 
               }
            }
           
            console.log(final);
        }
        result(s);

it may work but there is much simpler solution. – rnd_nr_gen Dec 16 '21 at 16:35 — rnd_nr_gen, Dec 16 '21 at 16:35

How to remove the extra spaces in a string?

12 Answers12

Output

Linked

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