JavaScript array join() method

Another Array method, and this time the join() method, we have seen this in use in yesterdays four-digit pincode.

What it does is it combines an array with a delimiter you specify.

Using the Javascript join() method permalink

In the most basic example let’s convert this array into a string.

const input = ['Hello', 'world', 'how', 'are', 'you'];
const output = input.join(' ');
// 'Hello world how are you'

In this example we used a empty string to join the words, we can use anything really:

const input = ['Hello', 'world', 'how', 'are', 'you'];
const output = input.join('👀');
// 'Hello👀world👀how👀are👀you'

It can only take one argument which is the separator. This is a optional parameter, if we leave it empty we get the following result:

const input = ['Hello', 'world', 'how', 'are', 'you'];
const output = input.join();
// 'Hello,world,how,are,you'

Real-world example permalink

An example where one would use this, is of course, like in the four-digit JavaScript input.

But another really good one is converting titles into slugs. A slug would be a URL friendly version of your title.

Let’s say we have the following title.

const title = 'this is my article title';

Notice how this is not an array, so how can we join this into a slug?

First let’s split it on each space:

const output = title.split(' ');
// [ 'this', 'is', 'my', 'article', 'title' ]

Now we can join this with a dash.

const output = title.split(' ').join('-');
// 'this-is-my-article-title'

There you go! Super awesome function and very useful!

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect! permalink

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