Angular filter to initialise first name - angularjs

Question

I need to make an angular filter that will take full names, and initialise the first name, leaving only the last name, except in certain cases (e.g. Van Aanholt).
So the following:
Yohan Cabaye
Oscar
Jordi Alba Ramos
Patrick Van Aanholt
Hatem Ben Arfa
Will be shown as:
Y. Cabaye
Oscar
J. Ramos
P. Van Aanholt
H. Ben Arfa
Any help would be appreciated.
UPDATE: This is what I've tried...
angular.module('euroFilters', [])
.filter('initialiseName', function() {
return function(name) {
var nameArr = name.split(' ');
var firstName = nameArr[0];
var firstNameInitial = nameArr[0][0] + ". ";
var lastName = nameArr[nameArr.length - 1];
var secondaryLastName = nameArr[nameArr.length - 2];
// If only one name (standard)...
if (nameArr.length <= 1) {
return firstName;
}
// If more than one name, and contains "Van" or "Ben" (exception)...
else if (secondaryLastName === "Van" || secondaryLastName === "Ben") {
return firstNameInitial + " " + secondaryLastName + " " + lastName;
}
// If more than one name (standard)...
else if (nameArr.length > 1) {
return firstNameInitial + lastName;
}
};
});
Is there a more elegant way to write this? How would it convert into a switch statement, for example?

Answer 1

You can use split and join for that. String are array like objects, so you can use index on them.
angular.module('app', []);
angular.module('app').filter('initialiseFirstName', function () {
return function (name) {
var parts = name.split(/\s+/);
if (parts.length <= 1) {
return name;
}
var first = parts[0][0] + '.';
return first + ' ' + parts.slice(1).join(' ');
}
});
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.2.23/angular.min.js"></script>
<div ng-app="app">
{{'John Ket'|initialiseFirstName}}
</div>

Answer 2

This should do what you need:
<div ng-app="app">
{{'John Von Koten'|initialiseFirstName}}
</div>
<script>
angular.module('app', []);
angular.module('app').filter('initialiseFirstName', function () {
function checkName(name){
var prefixes = ['Van', 'Ben', 'Von'];
for(var i = 0; i < prefixes.length; i++){
if(name.indexOf(prefixes[i]) > 0){
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
return function (name) {
var parts = name.split(/\s+/);
if (parts.length <= 1) {
return name;
}
if(parts.length > 2){
if(checkName(name)){
return parts[0][0] + '. ' + parts[1] + ' '+ parts[2];
}
}
var first = parts[0][0] + '.';
return first + ' ' + parts.slice(1).join(' ');
}
});
</script>