Delete empty Spaces in String Array (JavaScript)

Question

I have the following Array in JavaScript:

["X1", " X2", " X3", " X4", " X5", " X6", " X YZ1", " X YZ2", " X7", " X8", " X9"]

I would like to delete the empty spaces before a letter is beginning, see for example X2. But I would like that the space between X and YZ1 is not deleted.

Does anybody know, how I can do that?

Thank you in advance.

Greets.

• Abhitalks: developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/…

Answer 1

RegEx to replace leading whitespace:

for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
 arr[i] = arr[i].replace(/^\s+/, "");

Answer 2

You can try, replace()

strArray[0].replace(/\s/g, "") ;

• SeinopSys: Second one fails space between X and YZ1 is not deleted

Answer 3

for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++)
array[i] = array[i].trim();
}

• AishwaryaVengadesan: trim() removes whitespace from both sides of a string.

Answer 4

here is working solution, that adds a new method to Array object.

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/bnpeon25/

a = ["X1", " X2", " X3", " X4", " X5", " X6", " X YZ1", " X YZ2", " X7", " X8", " X9"];
Array.prototype.trimvals = function() {
 for (var i = 0; i < this.length; i++) {
 this[i] = this[i].replace(/^\s+/, "");
 }
 return this;
}
console.log(a.trimvals());

Answer 5

All modern browsers natively support .trim(). Ref: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/Trim

arr[i] = arr[i].trim();

This will not delete the embedded spaces as you stated in your question.

Alternatively, if you want to get rid of all spaces: leading, trailing and embedded; then you could you regex:

arr[i] = arr[i].replace(/\s/g, "");

Snippet using .trim() (Leading and Trailing Spaces):

var arr = ["X1", " X2", " X3", " X4", " X5", " X6", " X YZ1", " X YZ2", " X7", " X8", " X9"];
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) { arr[i] = arr[i].trim(); }
document.getElementById("result").innerText = arr.join(",");

<p id="result"></p>

Snippet using regex (Simple all spaces):

var arr = ["X1", " X2", " X3", " X4", " X5", " X6", " X YZ1", " X YZ2", " X7", " X8", " X9"];
for (var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) { arr[i] = arr[i].replace(/\s/g, ""); }
document.getElementById("result").innerText = arr.join(",");

<p id="result"></p>