JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook

Chapter 1. Strings

Introduction

A string is one of the fundamental building blocks of data that JavaScript works with. Any script that touches URLs or user entries in form text boxes works with strings. Most document object model properties are string values. Data that you read or write to a browser cookie is a string. Strings are everywhere!

The core JavaScript language has a repertoire of the common string manipulation properties and methods that you find in most programming languages. You can tear apart a string character by character if you like, change the case of all letters in the string, or work with subsections of a string. Most scriptable browsers now in circulation also benefit from the power of regular expressions, which greatly simplify numerous string manipulation tasks—once you surmount a fairly steep learning curve.

Your scripts will commonly be handed values that are already string data types. For instance, if you need to inspect the text that a user has entered into a form’s text box, the value property of that text box object returns a value already typed as a string. All properties and methods of any string object are immediately available for your scripts to operate on that text box value.

Creating a String

If you need to create a string, you have a couple of ways to accomplish it. The simplest way is to simply assign a quoted string of characters to a variable (or object property):

var myString = "Fluffy is a pretty cat.";

Quotes around a JavaScript string ...