In this article, we will see how to check if a string is empty or contains only spaces in JavaScript.

Here, we will create a JavaScript function that will check strings with only spaces using :

1. trim() method, and
2. Regular expressions and test() method

Let’s see each method with an example.

Check if a string contains only spaces using trim() method.

The trim() method in Javascript removes whitespaces from both sides of a string and returns a new string without modifying the original string.

With trim() and the length property, we can determine if a string is empty or have only spaces in it.

This will give us a result in boolean. If the string has only space it will return true or else it will return false .

Example:

function checkOnlySpace(str) {
  return str.trim().length === 0;
}

console.log(checkOnlySpace('  ')) // true
console.log(checkOnlySpace('')) // true
console.log(checkOnlySpace(' 123 ')) // false

In the above code,

The str.trim() removes all the whitespaces from both ends of a given string. And using the length property we check if the string contains any character.

If the string does not contain any character, str.trim().length will return 0 .

Check if a string contains only space using regular expression and test() method

We can use RegExp.test() along with regular expression to check if a string contains only spaces.

The test() method executes a search for a match in a string. It returns true if a match is found, otherwise, it returns false .

Syntax:

RegExp.test(string)

Let’s see an example using test() and regular expression to check for strings with only spaces or empty.

function checkOnlySpace(str) {
  return /^s*$/.test(str);
}

console.log(checkOnlySpace('  ')) // true
console.log(checkOnlySpace('')) //true
console.log(checkOnlySpace(' 123 ')) //false

The / / marks the start and end of a regular expression.

The ^ sign matches the beginning of the input and $ matches the end of the input.

The s is used to match any single space, tabs, or newline.

The * (asterisk) matches the preceding item “s” 0 or more times in the string.

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JavaScript – How to Remove Character From A String.