Get text between two strings in jQuery or JavaScript

Question

I'm trying to get the content between 2 strings and do operation on them. For example here you can see there are two $toc variables. I want to get the content between these two and make a table of content based on that. If you see the fiddle link you'll see that it's taking all the h1,h2,h3,h4 tags and making table of content by replacing first $toc but I don't want all the H tags in that table of content. I want just the H tags between these two $toc strings. How can I do that?

What I tried

function createTOC(elements) {

    var tocString = '';

    for (var i = 0, len = elements.length; i < len; i++) {
      tocString += elements[i].outerHTML;
    }
    var $body = $('body');
    var html = $body.html();
    var newHtml = html.replace('$toc', tocString);
    $body.html(newHtml);
}
var $tocElements = $('h1, h2, h3, h4');
createTOC($tocElements);

I don't understand why you need to delimit your content with 2 different p tags with $toc inside... Just wrap what you need in a container, and take the children headings. Extra div won't break your layout, it doesn't have any default styles. — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 9:02
actually the requirement is to make table of content where user writes $toc. That I did. Now the requirement is to make separate table of content for separate part, so in the link you see there are 2 $toc, therefore I need to make two table of content. First $toc will make table of content of data till it finds second $toc, and then the second $toc will make table of content of the data till the end of document. — Chankey Pathak
– Chankey Pathak, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 9:15
I see... I think the container approach still applies though. Or is it more of a markdown thing? — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 9:17
no, I'm not aware of what classes/ids user will use, I just need to find the string ($toc) and replace that with table of contents. — Chankey Pathak
– Chankey Pathak, Commented Dec 13, 2013 at 18:55

Praveen · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-12 09:36:59Z

1

1) find the elements which is holding the text $toc

var listOfTocs = $('p:contains("$toc")');

2) Now using nextUtil() get all the inbetween those p tags.

var foul = $(listOfTocs[0]).nextUntil(listOfTocs[1]);

3) Now filter those elements with elements (h1, h2, h3, h4)

var goal = foul.filter(elements);

4) To see its values just iterate

$.each(goal, function (i, v) {
    console.log($(v).text());
});

Finally,

function createTOC(elements) {
    var listOfTocs = $('p:contains("$toc")');
    var foul = $(listOfTocs[0]).nextUntil(listOfTocs[1]);
    var goal1 = foul.filter(elements);
    $.each(goal1, function (i, v) {
        console.log($(v).text());
    });

    var goal2 = $(listOfTocs[1]).nextUntil($("body").last()).filter(elements);
    $.each(goal2, function (i, v) {
        console.log($(v).text());
    });
}

Returns

Werkwijze
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Kwaliteitsregistraties

Goal
Council of members
MGMT
IT
Scope
Environment
Quality
Wellness

Now you can make other things with it.

Hope you understand.

edited Dec 12, 2013 at 9:36

answered Dec 12, 2013 at 9:24

Praveen

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8 Comments

Chankey Pathak Over a year ago

Please check my comment: stackoverflow.com/questions/20538793/…

Praveen Over a year ago

@ChankeyPathak Try my updated answer. Since you only 2 $toc, I have directly used array indexing. otherwise you should use iterate each $toc and find the heading inbetween them

Chankey Pathak Over a year ago

I can't use 'p:contains("$toc") as I am not sure whether customer will write $toc in <p> or <div> or whatever. I just need to look for the text $toc.

Praveen Over a year ago

@ChankeyPathak ohh. Ok let me try some other approach. But to confirm remaining items are okay right?

Chankey Pathak Over a year ago

Hi tried your solution in fiddle, it didn't work. See here. Also to help you understand the complete problem, see this: stackoverflow.com/questions/20515565/…

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