Converting a structured string to an array using Javascript

Question

Lets say I have a string like so:

var myStr = "[1,2,3,4,5]";

How can I convert it to something like this:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

I'm trying to do this using the following command:

JSON.parse(myStr)

However, I get an error. What's the right way to do this? Moreover, can the same method be used for structured strings containing non-numbers? Like the following:

var myStr2 = "[cats, dogs, elephants]"

EDIT:

To be specific, I get this error:

SyntaxError: JSON.parse: expected ',' or ']' after array element at line 1 column 5 of the JSON data

The string part is something like this:

[16 Sep,16 Sep,16 Sep,16 Sep,16 Sep,16 Sep,16 Sep]

So I dont really understand why I get this error.

I don’t get an error. myStr2 needs to look like '["cats", "dogs", "elephants"]' in order for JSON.parse to work. — Sebastian Simon
– Sebastian Simon, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 19:24
The string should be in a proper JSON format. In your first case you could not have such error. Only in case 2 and 3 you have problems, as the strings should be quoted as Nour Yasein suggested. — Mario Santini
– Mario Santini, Commented Sep 16, 2016 at 19:33

Nour · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-16 19:28:22Z

2

You should write it like so

var myStr2 = '["cats","dogs","elephants"]' ; 
obj = JSON.parse(myStr2);

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 19:28

Nour

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ninjawarrior · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-16 19:33:47Z

1

You can use this code to convert the string to array.Remove the brackets and split the string with comma.

var myStr = "[1,2,3,4,5]";
var arr = myStr.replace(/^\[|\]$/g,'').split(','); // converted array

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 19:33

ninjawarrior

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Sam Hajari · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-16 19:30:19Z

1

Try var array = JSON.parse("[" + myStr + "]"); This will give you an array [1,2,3,4,5]

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 19:30

Sam Hajari

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Ankh · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-17 05:51:43Z

0

For an array with number this works:

var myStr = "[1,2,3,4,5]";
var array = JSON.parse(myStr);

console.log(array);

output:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

edited Sep 17, 2016 at 5:51

user6169399

answered Sep 16, 2016 at 19:31

Ankh

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