How to split a string in JavaScript

To split a string into an array of substrings in JavaScript:

Use the String.split() method.
Pass an optional separator as a parameter. The default separator is an empty string (" ") that splits the string between words.
Specify an optional second parameter to limit the number of matches.
The String.split() method returns a new array and does not change the original string.

Examples

The String.split() method splits the string every time it matches against a set of characters provided as an argument.

If you have a comma-separated string, you could split it into an array like the 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' ]

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' ]

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' ]

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

Read this article to learn more about converting a string into an array using JavaScript.

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