I'm currently trying to solf the TVRemote(wrap). I already solved it in python but i've been trying to solve it in JS. When I call the main function with the exact same test words that fail, it logs the correct answer but the test says it is logging a different answer. I'm still very new to JS and can't figure out what else I can do since all of my logs come back correct. Any help is appreciated. My code is below. I called the first function with the first test that fails so you can see difference in what is logged.

// each string in the array is a row and each character in each string is a column.
const rows = ['abcde123','fghij456','klmno789',
             'pqrst.@0','uvwxyz_/','*#&&&&&&'];


let current = [0,0];
let new_l = [];

// function that finds column and row of a given letter or character.
const find_letter = letter => {
  let count = 0;
  for (i=0; i<rows.length; i++){
    
    // if the character isn't in the row, move to the next row.
    const column = rows[i].indexOf(letter);
      if(column === -1){
        continue;
        
        // if it is found, update row and column to the new letter.
      } else {
        new_l.push(i);
        new_l.push(column);
        
        //gives the distance to between current position and new character.
        let row = Math.abs(current[0]-new_l[0]);
        let col = Math.abs(current[1]-new_l[1]);
        
        // used to represent the wrapp arround ability
        if(row > 3) {
          row = 6-row;
        } if(col > 4) {
          col = 8-col;
        }
        
        // update count and new current position. The +1 is the "click" of the button.
        count += row + col +1;
        current = new_l;
        new_l = [];
        break;
      }
      } 
  
        // returns how many clicks it took from the previous character to press the current character.
        return count ;
    };


const tvRemote = function(words) {
  // current total count that will be returned
  let count = 0;
  
  // represents current state of keyboard. False = lowercase, True = upercase.
  let shift = false;
  
  //check each character in word/words.
  [...words].forEach(l => {
    
    // if there is a space, the button to press is the space (#) key.
    if(l == " "){
      l = "#";
      
      // find_letter finds the row and column for that character and updates current position to that key.
      count += find_letter(l);
      
      // if the letter is uppercase, check how many clicks it takes to first press the shift key then the main key.
    } else if(l == l.toUpperCase()) {
        if(!shift) {
          count += find_letter('*');
          shift = true;
          count += find_letter(l.toLowerCase());
        // if the letters are alread capitalized, continue finding the character.
      } else {
        count += find_letter(l.toLowerCase());
      }
      
      // if the keyboard is uppercase and the character we are looing to press is letter, press shift key then find the letter.
    } else if(shift && l == l.match(/[a-z]/i)){
        count += find_letter('*');
        shift = false;
        count += find_letter(l);
      
      // find the letter if keypad is lowercase.
    } else if(!shift && l == l.match(/[a-z]/i)){
      count += find_letter(l);
      
      // if the character isn't a letter or a space, find how many clicks to press the character.
    } else {
      count += find_letter(l);
    }
  }); 
      return count;
};

console.log(tvRemote("your"))

Thanks for the replies. I didn't realize that insert() wasn't as effecient as append.

I'm still learning python. I took almost 50 filled lines of code to finally produce a winner. Your code looks clean, readable with a great use of functions.