Issue when converting from HTML to text using javascript

Question

I have the following code snippet to convert html to javascript, but I seem to be facing an issue with the output when bound to a textarea and I am not able to figure out what the issue could be.

var html_to_text = $('#source').val().replace('&nbsp;', ' ').replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '').replace(/(<br>)+/g, '<br>');

The output is correct when displaying on an alert, but, when the same is bound to a text area, there is a lot of white space on it. Could someone help me understand what could be the issue with the above snippet.

I have a working sample of the same at http://jsfiddle.net/technicaliti/uuxDx/

What's the problem? You have a lot of whitespace (\n and spaces) in your original HTML, and you're removing a lot of non-whitespace. Which leaves...a lot of whitespace. Also, your first .replace() call doesn't use a Regular Expression, so it's only going to replace the first occurrence of a (nonexistent)   — Ian
– Ian, Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:40
How does it show the correct output on the alert and not on the #destination textarea. Am i missing something? — Abishek
– Abishek, Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:41
I see a lot of whitespace in both the alert and the textarea. — Ian
– Ian, Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:43
Do you need to add .replace(/\s{2,}/g, '\n\r') to the chain? — SaganRitual
– SaganRitual, Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:46
$('#source').val().replace(/<[^>]*>/g, '').replace(/\n/g, ''); — user2587132
– user2587132, Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:57

SaganRitual · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-06 04:47:35Z

0

Add .replace(/\s{2,}/g, '\n\r') to the end.

answered Aug 6, 2013 at 4:47

SaganRitual

3,2232 gold badges28 silver badges42 bronze badges

2

1>the correct order is \r\n not \n\r 2>that would replace whitespace,\r,\f to newline

Anirudha
– Anirudha

08/06/2013 04:49:17
Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:49
This answer works correctly without loosing the format and with the improvement suggested by @Anirudh.

Abishek
– Abishek

08/06/2013 04:51:57
Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 4:51

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:54:15Z

0

.replace(/\r?\n|\r/g,"");

This one removes only multiple newlines (taken from this answer) so you still get a nice format

Demo fiddle

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:54

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Aug 6, 2013 at 4:49

omma2289

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shakthydoss · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-06 05:08:30Z

0

Just replace the line break with nothing.

        html_to_text = html_to_text.replace(/\n/g, '');

answered Aug 6, 2013 at 5:08

shakthydoss

2,6316 gold badges29 silver badges37 bronze badges

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