JS: Associative array access over variable?

Question

after progging php since 3 years, im hanging at javascript. Is it possible to get value of an assoziative array with a variable? Example:

var a = new Array();
a["ANDI"] = "USER";
var test = "ANDI";

alert(a[test]);

Any suggestions, how I could workaround that? Maybe with objects?

Thx for help!

That's actually a misuse of Array, since arrays are really meant to be numerically indexed. new Object() or just {} is the right choice. — Matt Ball
– Matt Ball, Commented Jun 13, 2011 at 19:04
@Matt Keep in mind they're coming from PHP. PHP doesn't have objects, only "associative" arrays. A data type made for using words to store data is a completely foreign concept for a PHP programmer. — McKayla
– McKayla, Commented Jun 13, 2011 at 20:04

g.d.d.c · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 19:04:25Z

5

Arrays are indexed by numbers. Objects have properties that can be accessed by name.

var myContainer = {
  'User': 'Andy'
};

var key = 'User';

myContainer[key]; // Returns 'Andy'.

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 19:04

g.d.d.c

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2 Comments

Matt Ball Over a year ago

+1 for object over array, and object literal notation. Quoted keys are optional (unless you want to use a string which is not a valid JavaScript identifier).

g.d.d.c Over a year ago

Quoted keys are optional, but I use them out of habit from Python. It also prevents these pitfalls: var myContainer = { my.name: 'Value', 'My Name': 'Val2' }.

McKayla · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 19:35:50Z

3

Yup. That should alert USER.

But JavaScript has objects. If you want to do that, you'd probably want..

var a = {
    "ANDI": "USER"
};

For more details of JavaScript's object notations, check out JSON.org.

edited Jun 13, 2011 at 19:35

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 19:05

McKayla

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Comments

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-13 19:02:54Z

2

Sure, the code you have shown works perfectly fine and prints USER as expected. Live demo: http://jsfiddle.net/htnPe/

answered Jun 13, 2011 at 19:02

Darin Dimitrov

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