How can I convert the string...
"{ name: 'John' }"
...to an actual JavaScript object literal that will allow me to access the data using its keys (I.e. varname["name"] == "John")? I can't use JSON.parse(), since the string is invalid JSON.
3 Answers
Example with new Function
var str = "{ name: 'John' }";
var fnc = new Function( "return " + str );
var obj = fnc();
console.log(obj.name);4 Comments
epascarello
@QuinnComendant new Function is evaluating it so not as safe as you think.
Quinn Comendant
Yikes! You're correct:
var f = new Function("return " + "alert(1);"); f(); does execute alert(1). 😵epascarello
Weird you pick my answer to post that comment and the real solution is, return proper JSON.
Quinn Comendant
Sorry, it just followed from learning
new Function isn't safe. I've moved my comment to the OP's question. 😳From the previous question
s="{ name: 'John'}";
eval('x='+s);
1 Comment
BeachRunnerFred
Ahhh, now I see what you're saying. So sorry that was so difficult for me to understand. Thanks for your help!
You could use eval().
var str = "{ name: 'John' }";
var obj = eval("(" + str + ")");
evaland make the source produce proper JSON.eval(…),require(…),new Function(…),document.createElement('script'), etc, will cause the code in the string to be executed, which is probably dangerous if the string comes from outside your program. If your only source of data is JS object literals, the best way may be to use an AST parser such as Esprima as suggested here.