Here's a working function that I uses in one of my application.
This checks if item exit
let ifExist = (item, strings = [ '' ], position = 0) => {
// output into an array with empty string. Important just in case their is no item.
let output = [ '' ];
// check to see if the item that will be positioned exist.
if (item) {
// output should equal to array of strings.
output = strings;
// use splice in order to break the array.
// use positition param to state where to put the item
// and 0 is to not replace an index. Item is the actual item we are placing at the prescribed position.
output.splice(position, 0, item);
}
//empty string is so we do not concatenate with comma or anything else.
return output.join("");
};
And then I call it below.
ifExist("friends", [ ' ( ', ' )' ], 1)} // output: ( friends )
ifExist("friends", [ ' - '], 1)} // output: - friends
ifExist("friends", [ ':'], 0)} // output: friends: