Function to capitalise each word

[Nige]

To save me re-inventing the wheel, does anyone have a function to
capitalise each word in form data? I was thinking along the lines of
capitalise the first letter of the string, then any other letter after a
space or hyphen.

So many users seem to think that just because they are online they can
use names like "mr john smith" and so I have to manually change them.

 

[Lee]

Nige said:

To save me re-inventing the wheel, does anyone have a function to
capitalise each word in form data? I was thinking along the lines of
capitalise the first letter of the string, then any other letter after a
space or hyphen.

So many users seem to think that just because they are online they can
use names like "mr john smith" and so I have to manually change them.

There is no way of knowing which letters in a person's name
should be capitalized. If your user chooses to be called
"john smith", why do you feel that you have to change it?

 

[Disco]

To save me re-inventing the wheel, does anyone have a function to
capitalise each word in form data? I was thinking along the lines of
capitalise the first letter of the string, then any other letter
after a space or hyphen.

So many users seem to think that just because they are online they can
use names like "mr john smith" and so I have to manually change them.

<p style="text-transform:capitalize">mr john smith</p>

 

[Jim Ley]

Nige said:

There is no way of knowing which letters in a person's name
should be capitalized. If your user chooses to be called
"john smith", why do you feel that you have to change it?

Or people such as "Aravinda de Silva" who you'd be getting the name
completely wrong if you use De.

Jim.

 

[Fabian]

Nige hu kiteb:

To save me re-inventing the wheel, does anyone have a function to
capitalise each word in form data? I was thinking along the lines of
capitalise the first letter of the string, then any other letter
after a space or hyphen.

So many users seem to think that just because they are online they can
use names like "mr john smith" and so I have to manually change them.

In the case of my surname (van-de-l'Isle), this would result in an
incorrect capitalisation. Banks have lost my account over this kind of
thing. Then there was the time the bank's computer code decided that a
hyphen ended the surname string. Boy was I pished off over that one.

 

[Fabian]

Fabian hu kiteb:

Nige hu kiteb:


In the case of my surname (van-de-l'Isle), this would result in an
incorrect capitalisation. Banks have lost my account over this kind of
thing. Then there was the time the bank's computer code decided that a
hyphen ended the surname string. Boy was I pished off over that one.

If you really want to check this kind of thing, you could have the
submit linked to a function that gives the user a lst chance to edit
that field before submitting.

"The name field appears to have unusual capitalisation. Is this correct,
or do you want to go back? Submit/Edit"

But forcing this field into your idea of correct will really annoy some
people.

 

[Andrew DeFaria]

Or people such as "Aravinda de Silva" who you'd be getting the name
completely wrong if you use De.

And yet with my last name I prefer DeFaria.

If the user cannot spell their own name then IMHO, that's their problem
- not yours!

 

[Nige]

If your user chooses to be called
"john smith", why do you feel that you have to change it?

I used it as an example, the main thing I want to change is their
address: "21 park street, birmingham" to "21 Park Street, Birmingham"

 

[Fabian]

Nige hu kiteb:

I used it as an example, the main thing I want to change is their
address: "21 park street, birmingham" to "21 Park Street, Birmingham"

Then you picked just about the worst possible example. Many people are
sensitive about having their name mispelt. For your company to mispell a
customer's name when they entered it correctly is a surefire way to lose
that customer. And that kind of customer tells ten people all about it.
Unless they are online, in which case they tell a hundred.

 

[Fox]

emulating php ucwords function:

function
ucwords(str)
{

return str.replace(/\b\w/gi,
function(c,i,s) {
return c.toUpperCase();
});

}

OR (more js-like)

String.prototype.ucwords = function(){
return this.replace(/\b\w/gi, function(c,i,s) { return
c.toUpperCase(); });
}

example:

var properAddress = rawaddress.ucwords();

all problems mentioned in this thread will still exist... handle with care.

 

[Evertjan.]

Fox wrote on 11 nov 2003 in comp.lang.javascript:

String.prototype.ucwords = function(){
return this.replace(/\b\w/gi, function(c,i,s) { return
c.toUpperCase(); });
}

String.prototype.ucwords = function(){
return this.toLowerCase().replace(/\b\S/g, function(x) { return
x.toUpperCase(); });
}

The rest has to be lowercase, IMHO.

I do not think the i in /gi is necessary.

Why replace the whole word?

Please explain for us mortals what the (c,i,s) does !

 

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Fox wrote on 11 nov 2003 in comp.lang.javascript:


String.prototype.ucwords = function(){
return this.toLowerCase().replace(/\b\S/g, function(x) { return
x.toUpperCase(); });
}

Your version would uppercase[1] any non-space letter after a word
boundary. The previous version uppercased all word characters after
a word boundary. Since word characters includes all letters, and only
letters can be meaninfully uppercased, there isn't any significant difference.

The rest has to be lowercase, IMHO.

What rest? Your RegExp matches more characters than the previous one.

I do not think the i in /gi is necessary.

Correct, \w matches both upper- and lowercase letters already.

Why replace the whole word?

It doesn't, it only replaces one character at a time. The \w code
matches *one* word character, not an entire word.

Please explain for us mortals what the (c,i,s) does !

From ECMA-262 section 15.5.4.11:
---
If /replaceValue/ is a function, then for each matched substring, call
the function with the following m + 3 arguments. Argument 1 is the
substring that matched. If /searchValue/ is a regular expression, the
next m arguments are all of the captures in the /MatchResult/ (see
15.10.2.1). Argument m + 2 is the offset within /string/ where the
match occurred, and argument m +3 is /string/. The result is a string
value derived from the original input by replacing each matched
substring with the corresponding return value of the function call,
converted to a string if need be.
---
I.e.,
c is the current match
and since the regExp doesn't contain capturing parentheses (m==0),
i is the offset of the match in the original string, and
s is the original string.

/L

 

[Evertjan.]

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen wrote on 11 nov 2003 in comp.lang.javascript:

It doesn't, it only replaces one character at a time. The \w code
matches *one* word character, not an entire word.

Rereading the specs ....., Yes, true.

From ECMA-262 section 15.5.4.11:
---
If /replaceValue/ is a function, then for each matched substring, call
the function with the following m + 3 arguments. Argument 1 is the
substring that matched. If /searchValue/ is a regular expression, the
next m arguments are all of the captures in the /MatchResult/ (see
15.10.2.1). Argument m + 2 is the offset within /string/ where the
match occurred, and argument m +3 is /string/. The result is a string
value derived from the original input by replacing each matched
substring with the corresponding return value of the function call,
converted to a string if need be.
---
I.e.,
c is the current match
and since the regExp doesn't contain capturing parentheses (m==0),
i is the offset of the match in the original string, and
s is the original string.

That is all new to me, very usefull.

Quick try:

s = "a b c d e f".replace(/\w/g, function(c,i,s)
{ return "&lt;"+c+"="+i+"+"+s+"<br>"});

document.write(s);

Nice.

Do you realy have to specify any not used arguments in function(c,i,s) ?

 

[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Do you realy have to specify any not used arguments in function(c,i,s) ?

No. Javascript functions generally don't have a fixed arity - you can
pass any number of arguments to any function. The formal parameter
names only give you names to refer more easily to the actual arguments.

So, you can use
function(c) { ... }
or even
function() {
var c = arguments[0];
...
}

/L