remove text from string array with javascript/jquery

Question

Using .each() to go through an array, and trying to use replace() to find all the "<br>" and replace with " " (pretty simple) but nothing happens - no errors, it just doesn't replace.

//get values of each td in row
var values = '';
var tds = $(this).find('td');

$.each(tds, function(index, tditem) {
    values = values + "td" + ':' + tditem.innerHTML + '\n';
    values = values.replace(/<br>/i, " ");
});

Acknowledging that it would be better to manipulate a DOM element (and selecting one of those answers as the correct answer) I ended up adding this to my function as it just makes my life easier in the short-term:

values = values.replace(/<br>/i, " ");

Thanks @all

The innerHTML property is not stanardised, it has been copied from IE and so has many vagaries. I'll guess that the regular expression fails because most browsers (though perhaps not all) will capitalise the tag name to BR. Also, some have XML-itis and will present the markup as "<BR/>" even in an HTML document. If you want to remove nodes, best to use DOM methods, not string manipulation. — RobG
– RobG, Commented Nov 17, 2011 at 6:04
a case-insensitive search also fails ( /<br>/i ) and browser's view source shows as <br> — themerlinproject
– themerlinproject, Commented Nov 17, 2011 at 6:07

marcio · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-17 06:31:59Z

4

You don't need to do string processing to achieve this result. Here is the best (right) way to do that:

$(this).find('td br').remove();

The general rule is: always use the DOM to reach and manipulate the elements, avoid string analysis for this kind of operation.

Edit:

In case you don't want to change the real DOM elements, just clone then to a variable like so:

var HTML = '';
var tds = $(this).find('td').clone();
$(tds).find('br').remove();
HTML = $(tds).html();
alert(HTML);

edited Nov 17, 2011 at 6:31

answered Nov 17, 2011 at 6:06

marcio

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marcio Over a year ago

Edited the answer to clone things to a variable so you won't mess with the real DOM elements.

RobG · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-17 06:06:34Z

1

You should use DOM methods to remove DOM elements, something like:

function removeBRs(el) {
  var brs = el.getElementsByTagName('br');

  while (brs.length) {
    el.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(' '), brs[0]);
  }

}

Call it using:

removeBRs(this);

Live collections have some advantages. :-)

answered Nov 17, 2011 at 6:06

RobG

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