RXJS: SwitchMap converts string into single characters unexpectedly

I think you need map instead of switchMap.

The function passed to switchMap expects to return an observable or promise. "a" + str is not.

I guess you meant to use map instead of switchMap.

switchMap actually expects an ObservableInput as return-value, which in your case is a string, which in turn is treated as an array and therefore split up into single elements.

To have your expected result with switchMap you could do:

o.switchMap(str => Observable.of("a" + str))
    .subscribe(str => console.log(str));

But better use:

o.map(str => "a" + str)
    .subscribe(str => console.log(str))

New syntax with pipe:

o.pipe(
    map(str => "a" + str)
).subscribe(str => console.log(str))