Capitalization Regex to allow for Hyphenated Names

Question

I have this regex (dug up form somewhere)

return str.replace(/\w\S*/g, function(txt){return txt.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + txt.substr(1).toLowerCase();});

that Capitalizes the First Characters of a Prsons name.

It does not handle a Hyphanated Name like

melinda-ann smith

and returns

Melinda-ann Smith

when it should be

Melinda-Ann Smith

Regex is a very weak point with me, ... What do I need to change to Capitalize the character after the hyphen.

Answer 1

Inorder to make it capitalize, first non-uppercase letter like this:

'~\b([a-z])~'

it make melinda-ann smith to Melinda-Ann Smith

Answer 2

Found the Solution

str.replace(/\b[\w']+\b/g, function(txt){return txt.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + txt.substr(1).toLowerCase();});

works just fine .

Answer 3

I would recommend for this purpose not to use such procedural language and use more functional and more extendabale.

This function makes capitalization of first letter in regular and hyphened names(including with 'minus' sign or 'hyphen' -> [- –])

const startCase = (string) => 
  _.compact(string.split(' '))
          .map((word) => word.split(/[-–]/).map(_.capitalize).join('-'))
          .join(' ') // "melinda-ann smith" -> "Melinda-Ann Smith"