JavaScript: Is it possible to create an array, with multiple values for each array element?

Question

Disclaimer: I'm extremely new to javascript but this is my line of thought, I want to create a random password generator and I want to store all the possible variables in a single array. So for example I want the array to end up looking like this:

var characters = [
{
numbers: ("0", "1", "2", "3", "4" , "5", "6" , "7", "8", "9"),
specialChar: ("!", "%", "&", ",", "*", "+", "-", ".", "/", "<", ">", "?","~"),
upprCase: ("A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"),
lowrCase: ("a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"),

My goal is to be able to reference this as a global array and from there create a function to randomize the values inside the array and return the newly generated password. I'm not asking for anyone to make this I just want to know if this line of thinking will work.

well your array inside is not an array [ { numbers: ("0", <-- that ( is not an array. It is unclear why you have the [] around the object. — epascarello
– epascarello, Commented Jun 9, 2021 at 21:03
I added a link to a screenshot of what I have for my array, I just dont know if its possible to generate a random string for a password using whats listed inside the array. Or should I just make each array element (i.e.: specChar) into their own respective arrays and reference them individually. Again im very new to this so I apologize if this isnt making too much sense — new_Player_Level_1
– new_Player_Level_1, Commented Jun 9, 2021 at 21:18

randomcoder · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-09 22:01:14Z

1

You practically have it, but () doesn't work in JavaScript. You can use an array instead. You can nest arrays, so in your case, arrays inside a dictionary.

var characters = {
    'numbers':["0", "1", "2", "3", "4" , "5", "6" , "7", "8", "9"], 
    'specialChar':["!", "%", "&", ",", "*", "+", "-", ".", "/", "<", ">", "?","~"],
    'upperCase':["A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F", "G", "H", "I", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "O", "P", "Q", "R", "S", "T", "U", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z"],
    'lowerCase':["a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f", "g", "h", "i", "j", "k", "l", "m", "n", "o", "p", "q", "r", "s", "t", "u", "v", "w", "x", "y", "z"]
}

In this code, the dictionary (noted by {}) is holding the arrays with your keys. To utilize this, you can use characters['numbers'][0] to get the first number. In your case, you want random characters, so you can use something like

characters['numbers'][Math.floor(Math.random()*10)]

Keep in mind, however, that dictionaries are not ordered. So if you want to choose randomly between numbers, special characters, and letters, you can choose randomly from an array:

choices = ["numbers", "specialChar", "upperCase", "lowerCase"]
chartype = choices[Math.floor(Math.random() * 4)]

And then use this to get a random character,

characters[chartype][Math.floor(Math.random()*10)]

answered Jun 9, 2021 at 22:01

randomcoder

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1 Comment

new_Player_Level_1 Over a year ago

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was thinking of, I haven't learned about dictionaries for arrays yet what an awesome concept.

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