Removing all characters in the String that are not letters or numbers 1

vasilek · Feb 25, 2004

Hi. I never know what text the user will type in so it will be safe to remove all the charachters in the String that are not letters or numbers. For example:

"Mother's Day" I would like to become "MothersDay"

"Thank You" > "ThankYou"

"St. Patrick's Day" > "StPatrick'sDay"

"Red/Blue Car" > "RedBlueCar"

"Red, Blue Car" > "RedBlueCar"

"December 28, 2004" > "December282004"

Does it make sence? Is it possible? Thank you.

kaht · Feb 25, 2004

just use this function and you'll be set:

Code:

&lt;HTML&gt;
&lt;HEAD&gt;
&lt;SCRIPT LANGUAGE=JavaScript&gt;
function regexpCheck(str) {
   str = str.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/g, &quot;&quot;);
   alert(str);
   blahForm.blahText.value = '';
   blahForm.blahText.focus();
}
&lt;/SCRIPT&gt;
&lt;BODY&gt;
&lt;FORM NAME=&quot;blahForm&quot;&gt;
&lt;INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=blahText&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;INPUT TYPE=BUTTON VALUE='remove alphanumeric' NAME=blahButton ONCLICK='javascript:regexpCheck(blahForm.blahText.value);'&gt;
&lt;/FORM&gt;
&lt;/BODY&gt;
&lt;/HTML&gt;

-kaht

JCruz063 · Feb 25, 2004

You may use the replace function of the String object like this:

Code:

[COLOR=blue]function[/color] RemoveExtraChars(text)
{
  [COLOR=green]// This Reg Expression will match any
  // char that's not a letter or number[/color]
  regEx = [COLOR=blue]new[/color] RegExp(&quot;[^a-zA-Z0-9]&quot;, &quot;g&quot;);
  [COLOR=green]// This replaces the regular expression
  // match with an empty string...[/color]
  newText = text.replace(regEx, &quot;&quot;);
  [COLOR=blue]return[/color] newText;
}

The "g" in the constructor of the RegExp object makes the match occur for the whole string. Ommitting the "g" will cause only the first match to be replaced.

If you don't know about Regular Expressions, you can read a little bit about them at:

http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/ecmascript/quickref/regexp.html

Hope this helps!

JC

We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are. - Anais Nin

JCruz063 · Feb 25, 2004

Hey kaht, I guess you beat me to it!

JC

We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are. - Anais Nin

vasilek · Feb 25, 2004

Thank you. It works!!!

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Removing all characters in the String that are not letters or numbers 1

vasilek

Programmer

kaht

Programmer

JCruz063

Programmer

JCruz063

Programmer

vasilek

Programmer

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