convert textareas string value to JavaScript array separated by new lines

Question

I have a textarea where the user can write up to 1000 characters. I need to get the jQuery(\'#textarea\').val() and create an array where each item

Answer 1

String.prototype.split() is sweet.

var lines = $('#mytextarea').val().split(/\n/);
var texts = [];
for (var i=0; i < lines.length; i++) {
  // only push this line if it contains a non whitespace character.
  if (/\S/.test(lines[i])) {
    texts.push($.trim(lines[i]));
  }
}

Note that String.prototype.split is not supported on all platforms, so jQuery provides $.split() instead. It simply trims whitespace around the ends of a string.

$.trim(" asd  \n") // "asd"

Check it out here: http://jsfiddle.net/p9krF/1/