Splitting strings based on multiple separators - JavaScript

We are required to write a JavaScript function that takes in a string and any number of characters specified as separators. Our function should return a splitted array of the string based on all the separators specified.

For example, if the string is:

const str = 'rttt.trt/trfd/trtr,tr';

And the separators are:

const sep = ['/', '.', ','];

Then the output should be:

const output = ['rttt', 'trt', 'trfd', 'trtr'];

Method 1: Using Manual Iteration

This approach manually iterates through each character and checks if it matches any of the separators:

const str = 'rttt.trt/trfd/trtr,tr';

const splitMultiple = (str, ...separator) => {
    const res = [];
    let start = 0;
    for(let i = 0; i 

['rttt', 'trt', 'trfd', 'trtr', 'tr']


Method 2: Using Regular Expression (Recommended)

A more concise approach using regular expressions with character classes:

const str = 'rttt.trt/trfd/trtr,tr';

const splitMultipleRegex = (str, ...separators) => {
    // Escape special regex characters and join with |
    const escapedSeparators = separators.map(sep => 
        sep.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\]/g, '\$&')
    );
    const regex = new RegExp(`[${escapedSeparators.join('')}]`);
    return str.split(regex).filter(part => part.length > 0);
};

console.log(splitMultipleRegex(str, '/', '.', ','));


['rttt', 'trt', 'trfd', 'trtr', 'tr']


Method 3: Using reduce() for Multiple split() Calls

This approach applies split() sequentially for each separator:

const str = 'rttt.trt/trfd/trtr,tr';

const splitMultipleReduce = (str, ...separators) => {
    return separators.reduce((acc, separator) => {
        return acc.flatMap(part => part.split(separator));
    }, [str]).filter(part => part.length > 0);
};

console.log(splitMultipleReduce(str, '/', '.', ','));


['rttt', 'trt', 'trfd', 'trtr', 'tr']


Comparison

Conclusion

The regular expression method is recommended for most use cases due to its balance of readability and performance. Use manual iteration for performance-critical applications or when working with very large strings.