Question

I want to create an array out of a special string. The format is as follows:

(a),(b),(c(d,e)),(f(g(h,i,j)))

The array should be like this:

(a) | (b) | (c(d,e)) | (f(g(h,i,j)))

Using the split() function was not a good idea, as it gave me something like this:

(a) | (b) | (c(d | e)) | (f(g(h | i | j)))

Any ideas?

Answer 1

How about counting the number of open parenthesis? If the count is zero, you’re safe to split.

var
  input = '(a),(b),(c(d,e)),(f(g(h,i,j)))',
  i = 0,
  lim = input.length,
  output = [],
  count = 0,
  stack = [],
  c;

for (; i < lim; i += 1) {
  c = input.charAt(i);

  switch (c) {
    case '(':
      count += 1;
      break;

    case ')':
      count -= 1;
      break;

    case ',':
      if (count === 0) {
        output.push(stack.join(''));
        stack = [];
        continue;
      }
      break;
  }

  stack.push(c);
}

if (stack.length > 0) {
  output.push(stack.join(''));
}

console.log(output); // ["(a)", "(b)", "(c(d,e))", "(f(g(h,i,j)))"] 

http://jsbin.com/otofog/1/

---

or alternatively (if you’re not targeting IE < 9):

function mySplit(input) {
  var count = 0, output = [], stack;

  stack = input.split('').reduce(function (stack, c) {
    switch (c) {
      case '(': count += 1; break;
      case ')': count -= 1; break;
      case ',':
        if (count === 0) {
          output.push(stack.join(''));
          return [];
        }
    }

    stack.push(c);
    return stack;
  }, []);

  if (stack.length > 0) {
    output.push(stack.join(''));
  }

  return output;
}

console.log( mySplit('(a),(b),(c(d,e)),(f(g(h,i,j)))') );

http://jsbin.com/ohasuc/1/