Javascript – How to remove leading and trailing white spaces from a given html string

javascriptremoving-whitespace

I've the following HTML string. What would be sample code in JavaScript to remove leading and trailing white spaces from this string?

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
Trimming using JavaScript<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
all leading and trailing white spaces
<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<div>&nbsp;</div>

Best Answer

See the String method trim() - https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/Trim

var myString = '  bunch    of <br> string data with<p>trailing</p> and leading space   ';
myString = myString.trim();
// or myString = String.trim(myString);

Edit

As noted in other comments, it is possible to use the regex approach. The trim method is effectively just an alias for a regex:

if(!String.prototype.trim) {  
  String.prototype.trim = function () {  
    return this.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g,'');  
  };  
}

... this will inject the method into the native prototype for those browsers who are still swimming in the shallow end of the pool.

Related Solutions

Javascript – Remove properties from objects (JavaScript)

To remove a property from an object (mutating the object), you can do it like this:

delete myObject.regex;
// or,
delete myObject['regex'];
// or,
var prop = "regex";
delete myObject[prop];

Demo

var myObject = {
    "ircEvent": "PRIVMSG",
    "method": "newURI",
    "regex": "^http://.*"
};
delete myObject.regex;

console.log(myObject);

For anyone interested in reading more about it, Stack Overflow user kangax has written an incredibly in-depth blog post about the delete statement on their blog, Understanding delete. It is highly recommended.

If you'd like a new object with all the keys of the original except some, you could use the destructuring.

Demo

let myObject = {
  "ircEvent": "PRIVMSG",
  "method": "newURI",
  "regex": "^http://.*"
};

const {regex, ...newObj} = myObject;

console.log(newObj);   // has no 'regex' key
console.log(myObject); // remains unchanged

Javascript – var functionName = function() {} vs function functionName() {}

The difference is that functionOne is a function expression and so only defined when that line is reached, whereas functionTwo is a function declaration and is defined as soon as its surrounding function or script is executed (due to hoisting).

For example, a function expression:

// TypeError: functionOne is not a function
functionOne();

var functionOne = function() {
  console.log("Hello!");
};

And, a function declaration:

// Outputs: "Hello!"
functionTwo();

function functionTwo() {
  console.log("Hello!");
}

Historically, function declarations defined within blocks were handled inconsistently between browsers. Strict mode (introduced in ES5) resolved this by scoping function declarations to their enclosing block.

'use strict';    
{ // note this block!
  function functionThree() {
    console.log("Hello!");
  }
}
functionThree(); // ReferenceError

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Javascript – Remove properties from objects (JavaScript)

Javascript – var functionName = function() {} vs function functionName() {}

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