Here's my solution, which just iterates over the string until n
matches have been found:
String.prototype.nthIndexOf = function(searchElement, n, fromElement) {
n = n || 0;
fromElement = fromElement || 0;
while (n > 0) {
fromElement = this.indexOf(searchElement, fromElement);
if (fromElement < 0) {
return -1;
}
--n;
++fromElement;
}
return fromElement - 1;
};
var string = "XYZ 123 ABC 456 ABC 789 ABC";
console.log(string.nthIndexOf('ABC', 2));
>> 16