Javascript - Removing last 3 words from a string

Question

I've been able to find examples of how to remove the last word of a string, but in this instance I'm attempting to remove the last 3 words of a string. I've attempted this by adjusting some of the answers I've come across to remove a single word but none have gave me the expected results.
Example string Highest ranked in the states
I would like my return value be Highest ranked
Here are some code snippets of what I've attempted:


let myString = "Highest ranked in the states";

myString = myString.substring(2, myString.lastIndexOf(" "));

console.log(myString)

let myString2 = "I want to remove the last word";
let mySplitResult2 = myString2.split(" ");
let lastWord =  mySplitResult2[mySplitResult2.length-3]

console.log(lastWord)

with the adjusting the substring method to (2, myString.lastIndexOf(" ")); it ended up removing the first two letters of my sentence and only removed the word states such as "guest ranked in the"
when adjusting the .split() method to length -3 it simply returns back the word in instead of in the states

Cat · Answer

Here's a function that can do that for you. (It can actually remove all characters from the Nth-to-last occurrence of any character you specify, not just the Nth-to-last word.)
In your case:

the char parameter should get the value ' ' (ie spaces between words)
N should get the value 3 (to target the 3rd-to-last space)

I added an excludeChar parameter that you can set to true to avoid returning the final space (or you can use the .trim method on the result).


const
  myString = "Highest ranked in the states",
  result = truncateAtNthToLastOccurencOfChar(myString, ' ', 3);
console.log(result);

function truncateAtNthToLastOccurencOfChar(str, char, N, excludeChar){

// Makes counter,  converts str to arr & reverses it
  let i = -1, rev = Array.from(str).reverse();

// Increments counter (and executes even when i=0)
  while(++i || true){

// Returns original string if at the end `char` has occured fewer than `N` times
    if(i >= rev.length - 1){
      return str;
    }

// If current character matches `char`, decrements `N`
    if(rev[i] == char && --N === 0){

// If N=0, `i` is our target, all keeps characters (from reversed array)
      //   starting at `i` (or after `i` if excludeChar=true)
      return rev
        // The occurence of char can be excluded from result
        .slice(excludeChar ? (i + 1) : i)
        .reverse() // Restores original character order
        .join(''); // Converts back to string
    }
  }
}

shmulvad · Answer

Here is a nice and readable one liner:


const remove3words = words => words.split(" ").slice(0, -3).join(" ");

console.log(remove3words("Highest ranked in the states"));
console.log(remove3words("Exactly three words"));

You can generalize it easily to n words in the following way:


function remove_n_words(words, n) {
    return n === 0 ? words : words.split(" ").slice(0, -n).join(" ");
}

// Test the function
console.log(remove_n_words("Highest ranked in the states", 0));
console.log(remove_n_words("Highest ranked in the states", 3));
console.log(remove_n_words("Highest ranked in the states", 100));

iKaio · Answer

let myString = "Highest ranked in the states";

myString = myString.split(' ')
myString = myString.splice(myString.length-5,2)
myString = myString.join(' ')

console.log(myString)

dale landry · Answer

See comments for explanation using split and splice

let myString = "Highest ranked in the states";
//split the str using blank space between each word and add to new variable
let str = myString.split(" ");
//get the length 
let num = str.length;
//splice the array removing the last three values with the number - 3
let newStr = str.splice(0, num - 3);

let displayText = '';
//back into string
newStr.forEach(function(value){
  displayText += value + ' ';
});
display.textContent = displayText;

<div id="display"></div>

Javascript - Removing last 3 words from a string

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