Can I concatenate a variable name with a number in JavaScript?

Question

I have a drop down menu that has the options 1,2,3,4 (the actual number). I want to create 12 variables a1, a2, a3, a4 and b1, b2, b3, b4 so that c1 = a1 + b1, c2 = a2 + b2, c3=.... Is this possible in javascript?

var a = "a";
var b = "b";
var drop = Number(document.getElementById("drop").value);
for (var i = 0; i <= drop; i++) {
    alert([i]);
    a.name.replace("",i);
    alert();  
};

Nice idea, but unfortenately not working ; ). There's no way to change a variable name in JS. Building a dynamic object's property name is possible though. — Teemu
– Teemu, Commented Apr 26, 2014 at 16:33
no, and you shouldn't be doing that either. use an array of which you can index the elements using integers. — The Paramagnetic Croissant
– The Paramagnetic Croissant, Commented Apr 26, 2014 at 16:33
No need to create the variables, an array would suffice for this purpose as in the previous comment — Saravanan
– Saravanan, Commented Apr 26, 2014 at 16:36

MrCode · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-26 16:37:16Z

4

You can have variable variables using the [] syntax. So in the global scope you would use the window object:

var i = 0;
window["a" + i] = 'something'; // same as: var a0 = 'something';
console.log(a0); // something

That said, it would probably be better to group your variables in an object or array, to avoid polluting the global space.

Something like this structure might be ideal:

var data = {
    a : ['a'. 'b', 'c'],
    b : ['d', 'e', 'f'],
    c : ['g', 'h', 'i']
};

console.log( data.a[0] ); // a
console.log( data.b[1] ); // e
console.log( data.c[2] ); // i

answered Apr 26, 2014 at 16:37

MrCode

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