Question

var s1 = "-Hello";
var s2 = "--Whats up?";
var s3 = "How you doing?";

How can I compare the strings, and ask the question; “is this string starting with more ‘-‘ than the other?”.

Answer 1

function count( str ){
   var match = str.match(/(-+)/);
   return match ? match[0].length : 0;
}

console.log( count("--qwerty") );

Or if you want to pass in the leading character

function count( char, str ){
   var newRE = new RegExp( "(" + char + "+)","" );
   var match = str.match( newRE );
   return match ? match[0].length : 0;
}

console.log( count("-", "--qwerty") );