How to split a string in JavaScript

The String.split() method is used to convert a string into an array of substrings and returns the new array. It does not change the original string.

It splits the string every time it matches against a set of characters provided as an argument. You can also pass an optional second parameter to limit the number of matches.

Examples

If you have a comma-separated string, you could split it into an array like below:

const str = 'lion,fox,dog,panda';

const animals = str.split(',');

console.log(animals);

// [ 'lion', 'fox', 'dog', 'panda' ]

The delimiter argument could be anything: dashes, underscores, and even spaces after commas:

const str = 'lion, fox, dog, panda';

const animals = str.split(', ');

console.log(animals);

// [ 'lion', 'fox', 'dog', 'panda' ]

Just white-space as a delimiter works too:

const str = 'lion fox dog panda';

const animals = str.split(' ');

console.log(animals);

// [ 'lion', 'fox', 'dog', 'panda' ]

You can also pass in an empty string as a delimiter. In this case, the string will be split between each character:

const str = 'lion';

const chars = str.split('');

console.log(chars);

// [ 'l', 'i', 'o', 'n' ]

Limiting the number of results

To limit the number of items in your array, just pass in an integer as a second argument to specify the number of splits:

const str = 'lion,fox,dog,panda';

const animals = str.split(',', 3);

console.log(animals);

// [ 'lion', 'fox', 'dog' ]

Browser compatibility

The String.split() method works in all modern browsers and back to at least IE 6.

What's next?

Take a look at this article to learn more about different ways of converting a string into an array using JavaScript.

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