Convert delimited string using # and | characters into JSON format in JavaScript

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1

Converting formatted string to JSON object

I need help with parsing a specific string format in JavaScript. I have a string that contains employee data separated by special characters and I want to turn it into a proper JSON structure.

My input string looks like this:

employeeData = "#203|John|Doe|Engineer|45000|Basketball #204|Sarah|Johnson|Designer|52000|Tennis"

What I want to achieve:

[
    {
        "employeeId": "203",
        "firstName": "John",
        "surname": "Doe",
        "position": "Engineer",
        "income": "45000",
        "hobby": "Basketball"
    },
    {
        "employeeId": "204",
        "firstName": "Sarah",
        "surname": "Johnson",
        "position": "Designer",
        "income": "52000",
        "hobby": "Tennis"
    }
]

I tried using employeeData.split('#') but this gives me an array where each element still has the pipe symbols. I cannot figure out how to handle the nested separation properly. What would be the best approach to parse this kind of formatted string?

2

You can solve this with regex - it handles dual delimiters way better than multiple splits. Use employeeData.match(/#[^#]+/g) to grab each employee record first, then deal with the pipes. This regex grabs everything from # until it hits the next #. Once you’ve got the records, just strip the leading # with substring(1) and split on pipes. I’ve found this approach way less error-prone because it naturally handles edge cases where your string starts with a delimiter. Plus regex makes it super easy to validate the data format upfront - you can check if the pattern matches what you expect before processing anything.

3

just split by # first, then loop through each piece and split by | again. way more readable than regex and you can easily add validation if you need it. something like: for(let i=1; i<parts.length; i++) { let fields = parts[i].split(‘|’); // build your object here }

4

I’ve encountered this same parsing issue before. Chaining split operations works effectively for nested delimiters like this. Start by splitting on ‘#’ first, ensuring to filter out any empty elements (your string begins with ‘#’). After that, split each resulting piece on the pipe character. Here’s a viable approach: const result = employeeData.split(‘#’).filter(item => item.length > 0).map(employee => { const fields = employee.split(‘|’); return { employeeId: fields[0], firstName: fields[1], surname: fields[2], position: fields[3], income: fields[4], hobby: fields[5] }; }); The filter step eliminates the empty string before the first ‘#’, while the map function converts each employee string into an object by splitting it on pipes and assigning fields to their respective properties.