Accessing object in array using string

Question

I have this code:

    var dictionary=[
            apple={name:"apple",pos:"noun",d:"",c:["fruit"]},
            banana={name:"banana",pos:"noun",d:"",c:["fruit"]}
    ];

How could I access one of the objects in the array by using a string of its name. In the way that you could access an object as

     object['propertyName']

is there a way to do something similar with an array? I want to access it in a way like

    dictionary["apple"].pos 
    //Want to return "noun"

Is there a simple way to do something like that with an array, and if not is there an alternative method that I could use?

Your array syntax is not correct. Check your code here jshint.com — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Mar 2, 2014 at 0:11
Well, I put the code in JSHint and it said "two undefined variables, apple and banana", not what you want. — elclanrs
– elclanrs, Commented Mar 2, 2014 at 0:13

Timeout · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-02 00:17:59Z

3

The way you're generating your dictionary s wrong; it's syntactically valid, but it's almost certainly not what you intended to do. It's not binding the key apple to that object. Rather, it's defining an implicit (global) variable named apple and assigning the object to that, as well as the first element of the array.

Try this:

var dictionary= {
    apple: {name:"apple",pos:"noun",d:"",c:["fruit"]},
    banana: {name:"banana",pos:"noun",d:"",c:["fruit"]}
};

console.log(dictionary["apple"].pos); // "noun"

// This also works:
console.log(dictionary.apple.pos);    // "noun"

edited Mar 2, 2014 at 0:17

Timeout

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answered Mar 2, 2014 at 0:12

p.s.w.g

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4 Comments

Timeout Over a year ago

You might want to also note in the post he doesn't need the redundant "name" property and he can also use dot syntax instead of a dict style dictionary.apple.pos (if he so chooses).

p.s.w.g Over a year ago

@Jay Good point. OP seems to be a bit new to JS, so he / she may not be familiar with that syntax.

Zach Brantmeier Over a year ago

The reason that I'm using the string is because I'm getting the properties by a user input box when a submit button is clicked, so the dot syntax wouldn't really work in the context that I need.

Felix Kling Over a year ago

@zchbrntmr: Yep, that's why you have to use bracket syntax.

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