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Samantha Ming
Samantha Ming

Posted on • Originally published at samanthaming.com

String endsWith() Method in JavaScript

CodeTidbit by SamanthaMing.com

Need to know if a string ends with something? Simple, use #ES6 "endsWith" method. You don't even need to be a developer and you can guess what's going on. Making a language more human-readable is definitely the way to go πŸ’ͺ

const workout = 'πŸƒ πŸ‹οΈ πŸ’ͺ';

// Old Way
workout.indexOf('πŸ’ͺ', workout.length - 'πŸ’ͺ'.length) !== -1;
// true

// βœ…ES6 Way
workout.endsWith('πŸ’ͺ');
// true
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Parameters

The endsWith method accepts 2 parameters:

  1. Search Value
  2. Length

1. Search Value

This is a required field. Here is where you pass your search value. This can be a single character or longer. Let's see some examples

Single Character

const name = 'Samantha Ming';

name.endsWith('g'); // true
name.endsWith('n'); // false
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Multiple Characters

const name = 'Samantha Ming';

name.endsWith('ing'); // true
name.endsWith('in'); // false
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Multiple Words

const name = 'Samantha Ming';

name.endsWith('tha Ming'); // true
name.endsWith('tha M'); // false
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2. Length

Here you can specify the length of the string you want it to search. When I first read this, I was quite confused. So let's try to understand what length is doing here.

First, I want to let you know the length of my first name.

console.log('Samantha'.length); // 8
// The last character is 'a'
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Now let's utilize the length parameter.

const name = 'Samantha Ming';

name.endsWith('a', 8); // true
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☝️So when I say 8, I'm telling endsWith to grab the first "8" characters of the name string (from left to right). In this case, the first 8 characters of the string. And that will be the string we're searching with endsWith.

The above example is similar to doing this:

const name = 'Samantha';

name.endsWith('a'); // true
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The reason I said I was confused at first is because I pulled over my knowledge of startsWith, where the second parameter is the starting index. So I assumed the second parameter with endsWith would follow the same pattern and it would be the reverse ending index πŸ˜… That's why people always say, never "assume". Just when you think you know, you actually don't. So be humble and always keep a student mindset πŸ€“

If you're interested, here's my code notes to startsWith:

Code Notes: startsWith

Case Sensitive

Here's a knowledge that is similar to startsWith. The endsWith method is also case sensitive.

const name = 'Samantha Ming';

name.endsWith('G'); // false
name.endsWith('g'); // true
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Browser Support

Browser support is wonderful! IF you don't count Internet Explorer πŸ˜… (Sorry folks, but I'm sure there is no major shock there πŸ˜‚)

Browser Support: endsWith

But no problem here's the polyfill so you can safely use endsWith and still, have it be supported in IE.

MDN Polyfill: endsWith

By the way, if you're a bit confused about what Polyfill is. Here's a really good video by Tyler McGinnis.

Compiling vs Polyfills with Babel (JavaScript)

Community Input

πŸ’¬ What other old ways do you know?

Using Regex

@maxstalker: I could advocate for OLD way with some curried helper functions with some sprinkle of regexp

const startsWith = pattern => string =>
  new RegExp(`^${pattern}.*`).test(string);

const endsWith = pattern => string => new RegExp(`.*${pattern}$`).test(string);

const sports = "πŸˆπŸŽ³β›³β›Έ";
console.log(startsWith("🏈")(sports)); // true
console.log(startsWith("β›Έ")(sports)); // false

console.log(endsWith("🏈")(sports)); // false
console.log(endsWith("β›Έ")(sports)); // true
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@maxstalker: Or slightly shorter version, which you can inline whenever needed:

const sports = "πŸˆπŸŽ³β›³β›Έ";

// startsWith
console.log(/^🎳.*/.test(sports)); // false
console.log(/^🏈.*/.test(sports)); // true

// endsWith
console.log(/.*🎳$/.test(sports)); // false
console.log(/.*β›Έ$/.test(sports)); // true
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Using slice

@maxstalker: Another - a bit convoluted and maybe more theoretical - way to do it would be to compare parts of the strings:

const sports = "β›³πŸŽ³πŸˆβš½πŸŽΎ";
const startPattern = "β›³";
const endPattern = "⚽🎾";

//startsWith
console.log(sports.slice(0, startPattern.length) === "wrong!"); // false
console.log(sports.slice(0, startPattern.length) === startPattern); // true

// endsWith
console.log(sports.slice(-endPattern.length) === "wrong!"); // false
console.log(sports.slice(-endPattern.length) === endPattern); // true
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Using lastIndexOf

const workout = 'πŸƒ πŸ‹οΈ πŸ’ͺ';

workout.lastIndexOf('πŸ’ͺ') === workout.length - 'πŸ’ͺ'.length;
// true
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Resources


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