Split a String into a List of Characters in JavaScript and Node.js

JavaScript allows you to split strings into an array of string values at individual characters. A hidden functionality is splitting a string into a list of characters.

And that’s what this tutorial shows you: how to split a given string value into a list of its individual characters. It also keeps emojis „as is” without splitting the emojis into their composition characters.

Node.js Series Overview

  1. String Replace All Appearances
  2. Remove All Whitespace From a String in JavaScript
  3. Generate a Random ID or String in Node.js or JavaScript
  4. Remove Extra Spaces From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  5. Remove Numbers From a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  6. Get the Part Before a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  7. Get the Part After a Character in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  8. How to Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  9. Check If a String Includes All Strings in JavaScript/Node.js/TypeScript
  10. Check if a Value is a String in JavaScript and Node.js
  11. Limit and Truncate a String to a Given Length in JavaScript and Node.js
  12. Split a String into a List of Characters in JavaScript and Node.js
  13. How to Generage a UUID in Node.js
  14. Reverse a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  15. Split a String into a List of Lines in JavaScript or Node.js
  16. Split a String into a List of Words in JavaScript or Node.js
  17. Detect if a String is in camelCase Format in Javascript or Node.js
  18. Check If a String Is in Lowercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  19. Check If a String is in Uppercase in JavaScript or Node.js
  20. Get the Part After First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  21. Get the Part Before First Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  22. Get the Part Before Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  23. Get the Part After Last Occurrence in a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  24. How to Count Words in a File
  25. How to Shuffle the Characters of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  26. Append Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  27. Check if a String is Empty in JavaScript or Node.js
  28. Ensure a String Ends with a Given Character in JavaScript or Node.js
  29. Left-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  30. Right-Trim Characters Off a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  31. Lowercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  32. Uppercase the First Character of a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  33. Prepend Characters or Words to a String in JavaScript or Node.js
  34. Check if a String is a Number
  35. Convert a String to Buffer
  36. Prevent Line Breaks in String Template Literals
  37. How to Implement a Custom `toString` Method (Coming soon)
  38. What Is `Symbol.toStringTag` and How to Use It (Coming soon)

Split a String into a List of Characters

JavaScript’s string values are iterable. For example, you may use a for-loop to iterate through the individual characters of a string.

You can use the string iterator to split a string into a list of characters. Pass a given string value into the Array.from() method and you’re receiving an array of characters in return:

/**
 * Determine whether the given `input` is a string.
 *
 * @param {*} input
 *
 * @returns {Boolean}
 */
function chars (string) {  
  return Array.from(
    String(string)
  )
}

chars('Hello Marcus')  
// ['H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ' ', 'M', 'a', 'r', 'c', 'u', 's', ]

chars('')  
// []

Use the @supercharge/strings Package

I’m the maintainer of the @supercharge/strings package providing convenient string utilities. It provides a useful Str#chars(string) method returning the list of individual characters of the given string value:

const Str = require('@supercharge/strings')

Str('Hello Marcus').chars()  
// ['H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ' ', 'M', 'a', 'r', 'c', 'u', 's', ]

Str().chars()  
// []

Enjoy!


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