String.prototype.repeat()

The repeat() method constructs and returns a new string which contains the specified number of copies of the string on which it was called, concatenated together.

Syntax

str.repeat(count)

Parameters

count

An integer between 0 and +∞: [0, +∞), indicating the number of times to repeat the string in the newly-created string that is to be returned.

Return value

A new string containing the specified number of copies of the given string.

Exceptions

• RangeError: repeat count must be non-negative.
• RangeError: repeat count must be less than infinity and not overflow maximum string size.

Examples

'abc'.repeat(-1);   // RangeError
'abc'.repeat(0);    // ''
'abc'.repeat(1);    // 'abc'
'abc'.repeat(2);    // 'abcabc'
'abc'.repeat(3.5);  // 'abcabcabc' (count will be converted to integer)
'abc'.repeat(1/0);  // RangeError

({ toString: () => 'abc', repeat: String.prototype.repeat }).repeat(2);
// 'abcabc' (repeat() is a generic method)

Polyfill

This method has been added to the ECMAScript 6 specification and may not be available in all JavaScript implementations yet. However, you can polyfill String.prototype.repeat() with the following snippet:

if (!String.prototype.repeat) {
  String.prototype.repeat = function(count) {
    'use strict';
    if (this == null) {
      throw new TypeError('can\'t convert ' + this + ' to object');
    }
    var str = '' + this;
    count = +count;
    if (count != count) {
      count = 0;
    }
    if (count < 0) {
      throw new RangeError('repeat count must be non-negative');
    }
    if (count == Infinity) {
      throw new RangeError('repeat count must be less than infinity');
    }
    count = Math.floor(count);
    if (str.length == 0 || count == 0) {
      return '';
    }
    // Ensuring count is a 31-bit integer allows us to heavily optimize the
    // main part. But anyway, most current (August 2014) browsers can't handle
    // strings 1 << 28 chars or longer, so:
    if (str.length * count >= 1 << 28) {
      throw new RangeError('repeat count must not overflow maximum string size');
    }
    var rpt = '';
    for (;;) {
      if ((count & 1) == 1) {
        rpt += str;
      }
      count >>>= 1;
      if (count == 0) {
        break;
      }
      str += str;
    }
    // Could we try:
    // return Array(count + 1).join(this);
    return rpt;
  }
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility