Replace Repeated Characters with JavaScript

By  on  

URLs can be tricky to work with because they can be more complicated than the traditional URL format you type in.  I was again reminded of this when I was parsing Webpack URLs when I saw this beauty:

webpack-internal:///../rbd/pnpm-volume/144384a5-85d9-4142-b9b9-168eea22eb97/node_modules/.registry.npmjs.org/fbjs/0.8.17/node_modules/fbjs/lib/isNode.js

I parsed the URL with new URL("....") but saw that the pathname included every leading slash:

///../rbd/pnpm-volume/144384a5-85d9-4142-b9b9-168eea22eb97/node_modules/.registry.npmjs.org/fbjs/0.8.17/node_modules/fbjs/lib/isNode.js


Since I wanted to display a sane pathname, I wanted to figure out how to remove/replace repeated characters with JavaScript.  It was actually easier than I thought it would be:

const prettyPath = urlObj.pathname.replace(/\/{2,}/g, "/");

// > /../rbd/pnpm-volume/144384a5-85d9-4142-b9b9-168eea22eb97/node_modules/.registry.npmjs.org/fbjs/0.8.17/node_modules/fbjs/lib/isNode.js

The {2,} part of the regular expression only allows for one of the repeated characters, and /g ensures that multiple instances within the string will have the repeat character removed.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all this Webpack URL surprised me.  Luckily a small regex let me show a pretty URL in page to the user!

Recent Features

  • By
    Create Namespaced Classes with MooTools

    MooTools has always gotten a bit of grief for not inherently using and standardizing namespaced-based JavaScript classes like the Dojo Toolkit does.  Many developers create their classes as globals which is generally frowned up.  I mostly disagree with that stance, but each to their own.  In any event...

  • By
    9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos

    The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks.  Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead.  Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    CSS Selection Styling

    The goal of CSS is to allow styling of content and structure within a web page.  We all know that, right?  As CSS revisions arrive, we're provided more opportunity to control.  One of the little known styling option available within the browser is text selection styling.

  • By
    MooTools dwCheckboxes Plugin

    Update / Fix: The checkboxes will no longer toggle when the "mouseup" event doesn't occur on a checkbox. Every morning I wake up to a bunch of emails in my Gmail inbox that I delete without reading. I end up clicking so many damn checkboxes...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!