Lodash _.words() Method

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll use Lodash’s _.words() confidently in real JavaScript projects.

What Is _.words()?

_.words() splits a string into an array of words using lodash default word boundaries or an optional custom RegExp. Use it for word counts, keyword extraction, tag generation, and text analysis pipelines.

📝 Syntax

_.words([string=''], [pattern])

import words from "lodash/words";

const tokens = words("Hello, Lodash words!");
// -> ["Hello", "Lodash", "words"]

Examples Gallery

Practical _.words() patterns with copy-ready code and interactive Try It Yourself labs.

const text = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet";
console.log(_.words(text));
// -> ["Lorem", "ipsum", "dolor", "sit", "amet"]

["Lorem", "ipsum", "dolor", "sit", "amet"]

const phrase = "Hello, world!";
console.log(_.words(phrase, /[a-zA-Z]+/g));
// -> ["Hello", "world"]

["Hello", "world"]

const cn = "你好，世界";
console.log(_.words(cn));

["你好", "世界"]

const bio = "JavaScript developer building web apps";
console.log(_.words(bio).length);

5

const content = "Lodash words simplify text tokenization";
console.log(_.words(content));

["Lodash", "words", "simplify", "text", "tokenization"]

const s = "Hello, world!";
console.log(s.split(" "));
console.log(_.words(s));

split: ["Hello,", "world!"]
words: ["Hello", "world"]

📝 Notes

• _.words() returns an array, not a string.
• Default rules attach apostrophes to words (e.g. don't is one token).
• Pass a custom RegExp when default boundaries do not fit your locale.
• split(' ') often leaves punctuation on tokens; _.words() is cleaner.
• This is the last string-method tutorial—return to the String methods hub.
• Official reference: lodash.com/docs/#words.

💡 Best Practices